People who do not have a religion, or who no longer practise, have been urged to mark ‘no religion’ on the upcoming census form.

Atheist group, the Humanist Association of Ireland (HAI) said this is the only way to ensure a fairer representation and a greater voice for the non-religious when key policy decisions such as the allocation of resources and funding are being made.

However, research shows that those who do not regularly practice a religion, often still believe in God, pray, have their children baptised etc.

HAI chief executive Jillian Brennan said she believed the 468,421 ‘no religion’ number in 2016 would have been higher if not for what she described as “the biased nature of the census form question that assumed a religious affiliation by asking ‘what is your religion’?”

This “leading religion question” had, in the past, “encouraged many people with no religious beliefs to tick a religious box purely out of cultural affiliation,” she said.

In response to lobbying from the HAI and other groups, the Census Advisory Group agreed to change the wording from “What is your religion, if any?” to the tick box “No Religion”, which is now also the first option on the religion question checklist. This will make comparisons with past years extremely difficult.