The latest Census figures [1] released by the CSO show a huge ‘marriage gap’ between the social classes with marriage 
being much stronger in middle class areas than in more disadvantaged areas.
The new Census figures allow for analysis at the level of electoral districts and lower.
They show, for example, in the electoral district of Ballymun D, 73 percent of children under 18 are being raised in lone parent families.
In total contrast, in the middle class electoral district of Castleknock Park in West Dublin, only 14pc of children are raised by lone parent families, a difference of 59 percent compared with Ballymun D.
Also in Ballymun D, the percentage of those who are divorced or separated as a percentage of all currently married people is 57.7pc, the figures show. In Castleknock, the comparable figure is just eight per cent, almost 50 points lower.
In another working class district, Tallaght-Killinarden, the percentage of divorced and separated people, expressed as a percentage of currently married people, is 22pc, while the percentage of children being raised by single parents is 49pc.
By contrast, in Clontarf East B, a more middle class area, the comparable figure for divorced and separated people is 10.7pc, and 16pc of children are being raised by single parents.
In the electoral district of Stillorgan-Mount Merrion, 10.5pc of children are raised by single parents. In the working class electoral district of Mountjoy A, the equivalent figure is 69pc.
In Stillorgan-Mount Merrion, the percentage of those divorced or separated as a percentage of those currently married is 7.7pc; the equivalent figure for Mountjoy A is 32pc.
The Irish figures replicate what has been found in other countries where there is also a widening marriage gap between the social classes.
In terms of religion, the CSO figures showed that there were two areas, south of Glencar in Co Kerry and east of Milltown Malbay in Co Clare, where every person was Catholic. Parts of Dublin and Cork city centres had the greatest proportion of people with “no religion”.
Some four in 10 people in the Ormond Quay and Bachelors Walk areas of Dublin city declared themselves of no religion. Three areas of Cork city centre had four in 10 people of no religion.