Fewer people in Ireland are selecting to get married, and those that do are more likely than ever to go for a New Age ceremony, statistics have revealed.
Not including the pandemic years, Ireland’s marriage rate last 12 months hit its lowest level with just 3.8 marriages per 1,000 adults.
Last 12 months there have been 19,680 marriages registered in Ireland, a drop of 4.1 per cent from the previous 12 months.
While Catholic ceremonies remain essentially the most common, representing slightly below a 3rd of weddings, their popularity is declining. From 2023 to 2024 there was an 11.5 per cent drop in Catholic weddings.
The Church of Ireland saw a fair more drastic fall of over 20 per cent.
By contrast, the Spiritualist Union of Ireland appears to be experiencing something of a boom, albeit from a lower base. Last 12 months greater than 1 / 4 of Irish weddings were “New Age” ceremonies.
Humanist weddings declined by greater than 10 per cent and civil ceremonies dropped barely by 1.3 per cent.
Breda O’Brien who authored a recent report into the wedding statistics for the Iona Institute, said “It is obvious that the Churches have to have a take into consideration what is occurring and give you a response.
“For example, at present the Catholic Church will only hold its wedding ceremonies in churches, however it is definitely free to carry those weddings in other locations, like hotels, if it wanted. This is already happening in some dioceses in America, for instance”.
She continued: “Unless the Churches do discover a option to respond, the current trends will probably worsen from their perspective and can very likely extend to funerals as well sooner or later.”
She concluded: “However, it’s interesting that many couples still need a spiritual dimension to their weddings. This provides a possibility for the Churches”.
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