In a stark illustration of the difference between Irish and English society, further evidence emerged that marriage is on the increase in Ireland while the number of weddings in England is at its lowest level ever recorded. Catholic marriage agency, Accord, reported a 4 per cent increase in demand for their marriage preparation course last year.
New figures show that an average of 38 couples per day are booking the courses with a total of 9,880 couples attending the course in 2008.
Meanwhile, figures released by the British National Office of Statistics this week, reveal that the marriage rate is at a record low in the country, declining by a quarter since 1990.
In 2007, 231,450 people got married in England and Wales, a decrease of 3.3% on 2006.
With the exception of an increase between 2002 and 2004, this figure follows the declining long term trend in recent decades.
It is likely that official figures will show married couples to be in the minority by next year.
Director of the pro-marriage think-tank The Iona Institute, David Quinn said the increase in Ireland was largely due to demographics. ''The baby boomers are now of marrying age and our population is younger than that of other European countries.''
However, he said other factors had contributed to the converse trends in both countries. ''In Britian marriage has been much more badly damaged by government policy, the widespread practice of co-habitiation and a high divorce rate; those factors haven't been present for as long in Ireland,'' Mr Quinn said.
There were 40 per cent more marriages in Ireland in 2006 than in 1995.
Married: 1,544,354
Single: 1,314,700
Cohabiting 243,526
Widowed: 190,359
Separated: 107,263
Divorced: 59,534
Source: Census 2006
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(Source: IC)