THE CHURCH of Ireland population in the Republic has increased by over 46 per cent in recent years, according to a new book by social statistician Malcolm Macourt.
Counting the People of God; the Census of Population and the Church of Ireland was launched by the Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, Most Rev John Neill, in St Ann’s Church, Dublin, yesterday. Mr Macourt’s comparison of the 1991 and 2006 census returns showed a growth in the church’s population in the Republic from 82,840 to 121,229.
“The decline of the Church of Ireland, and of the other traditional Protestant denominations, in the Republic appears to have been halted and reversed between 1991 and 2002, and confirmed by the 2006 census,” he said.
This followed a decline from every census since 1861, when the total was almost 360,000. It also occurred during a 15-year period when the State’s population rose by 20 per cent to over 4.2 million.
The author said an understanding of the “new Irish” among the Church of Ireland, as well as the detail of census returns, was crucial to understanding the extent of the reversal.
Extensive inward migration has made the separate identity of Church of Ireland people more difficult to quantify, he said. “The ‘ethnic group’ which the Church of Ireland in the Republic appeared to be from the 1920s to the 1990s can no longer be easily measured using the religion inquiry.”
In responding to the first ethnicity question in the Republic in 2006, one in 20 of those who ticked the “Church of Ireland” box, or were allocated to the Church of Ireland by the Central Statistics Office, indicated they were not “white”.
Of these, 3,147 ticked the “African” or “any other black background” boxes related to the ethnicity question; 306 ticked the “Chinese” box and 426 ticked the “any other Asian background” box. Meanwhile, 2,415 ticked the “other including mixed background” box.
Mr Macourt said anecdotal evidence suggested some people appeared to have attached themselves to the Church of Ireland since arriving to Ireland.
“This may only be in particular locations where the church has made an effort to make contact. However, it may be because of the ethos of schools under its control, rather than the social and cultural position of the church in society that people have been attracted.”
From 1926 until 1991, while the total urban population was steadily increasing, fewer and fewer people were enumerated as Church of Ireland in the State’s cities and towns.
However, the increase of those recorded as Church of Ireland in several towns between 1991 and 2006 has been “quite remarkable”, according to Mr Macourt.
In those 15 years, the Church of Ireland population in Ennis increased from 68 to 400, in Navan from 111 to 541 and in Newbridge from 91 to 402.
A similar trend was recorded in smaller towns. In Tuam, the numbers increased from 10 to 121, in Kildare from 32 to 177 and in Carrick-on-Suir from 16 to 122.
Mr Macourt said a substantial part of the increase in the Church of Ireland urban population may relate to those who have moved into the Republic in recent years.
However, it was evident that some Church of Ireland people had moved from areas where they had been present in significant proportions to areas where they are – or were – present only in very small numbers.
“That this seems to have happened without any reported difficulty, maybe a sign that any residual hostile perceptions of members of the Church of Ireland have faded into history.”
The author concluded that the census yielded important evidence which the church and society at large “ignore at their peril”.
