New research has found that annual baptisms have fallen by 30 percent over the last ten years in Ireland.

A briefing note from the Iona Institute, a Christian advocacy and research body, says falling births and the rise of secularism are the two driving causes of the decline, with the drop in birth rates accounting for approximately 60 percent of the decrease.

In the ten year period which the research looks at, it was also shown that births in the Republic of Ireland have fallen by 19.9 percent, and 21.3 percent in Northern Ireland. Overall, this is a decline of 18.8 percent.

The report said the “biggest part of the decline [in baptisms] is accounted for by a fall in the number of births overall.”

“However, the effect of secularisation has been very significant, as we will see. The number of people who says they belong to no religion (the so-called ‘nones’) has been rising fast,” it added.

“In a way the figures are not a surprise given the rapidly falling number of births and growing secularisation,” said Dr. Tom Finegan, Chairman of the Iona Institute.

“Given that births have fallen by almost a fifth in the last ten years, and more people are ticking the ‘no religion’ box in the census,” Finegan said, “we could expect nothing but a big drop in baptism figures.”

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) found that in 2016, 78.3 percent of children aged between 0-4 were marked in the census as Catholic, with 9.2 percent having no religion. By 2022, these figures were respectively 65.4 percent and 15.6 percent.

67.9 percent of the mother’s children identified themselves as Catholic, and 15.7 percent said they had no religion.

“However, the figures also show that ‘cultural Catholicism’ remains strong on the island. We see that as at census 2022, 67.9 percent of mothers with children aged 0-4 still identified as Catholic, even though a big majority of these would not be regular Mass-goers,” Finegan said.

The archdiocese of Dublin saw a fall of 40 percent in the last ten years. Dublin’s birth rates also fell by more than the average.

“A second big reason for the difference between Dublin and the island as a whole is that Dublin has a higher percentage of children marked down in either the ‘no religion’ category,” the report said, after listing the decline in birth rates as the first reason. 

Baptisms in Meath decreased by 40.8 percent, Down and Connor saw a 38 percent decrease, and in Cloyne it was 30 percent. However, in the diocese of Achonry it was only a 3.2 percent fall, and the diocese of Elphin even saw a 0.9 percent increase. 

“It remains to be seen whether cultural Catholicism will remain a force in Irish life. It’s worth noting that in Britain in 2023, according to the Vatican yearbook, over 42,000 Catholic children were baptised, even though levels of Mass-attendance in Britain are low,” Finegan said.

“The fall in baptisms must be seen not simply as the result of secularisation,” Finegan also said, “but even more as a result of falling births. Ireland’s fertility rate is now just 1.5, well below the replacement level of 2.1. This should be of concern to everyone, regardless of religious belief.”

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