CSO publishes census figures on religion

The Central Statistics Office has reported a massive increase in the number of Muslims and Orthodox Christians in Ireland between 1991 and 2002.

The CSO said there were more than 10,000 Muslims in Ireland at the time of the 2002 census, compared to less than 400 in 1991.

The number of Orthodox Christians in the country also quadrupled to 19,000 in the same period.

Census figures published by the CSO today also showed that the number of Church of Ireland, Methodist and Presbyterian followers in Ireland increased by an average of 2.4%-a-year between 1991 and 2002.

The number of Catholics in the country also increased by 7.3%, though the share of Catholics in the population fell from 91.6% in 1991 to 88.4% in 2002.