Number of religious marriages in Ireland drops for fourth year in a row

A new report shows a shift away from religious marriages to civil and secular ceremonies.

The number of religious marriages in Ireland has dropped for the fourth year in a row.

The stat was revealed in the annual report of the Civil Registration Service, which records all births, deaths and marriages in the state.

More than 60% of weddings last year were classed as religious ceremonies.

That is a reduction from 65% in 2015.

The new report shows a shift away from religious marriages to civil and secular ceremonies.

Last year 30% of the 21,000 marriages in the state were civil ceremonies - in 2015 this was 28%.

Secular ceremonies represented just 5% of all marriages in 2015 but in three years this has grown to 10%.

There were 664 same-sex marriages in the year - down from 1,056 in 2016.

And 75 people had their gender changed on their birth cert under the provisions of the gender recognition Act.

Two of these people were under the age of 18.