Why does Ireland buck the global tendency for women to be more religious than men?

Emily Nelson
19 March 2026, The Tablet

Irish footballer Amanda Budden with young fans at a match at Tallaght Stadium, Dublin

Alamy/Action Plus Sports, Peter Fitzpatrick

In a report published earlier this month, “The Turning Tide?”, Stephen Bullivant and I examined multiple datasets, including the European Social Survey and a new poll conducted by Amárach Research for the Iona Institute, to explore recent religious trends across the island of Ireland.

We found that while, globally, women tend to be more religious than men, in the Republic of Ireland men and women display similar levels of religiosity.

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