THE recession has seemingly sparked a renewed interest in going to church, a new poll revealed last night.The percentage of people who attend Mass or other church services at least once a month has jumped from 54pc since the beginning of last year and now stands at 65pc of the population, the RedC poll reveals.
The poll, commissioned by the pro-religion think tank the Iona Institute, found that 46pc of the population now attend church on a weekly basis compared to 42pc last year.
It also revealed that 19pc of the population attend on a monthly basis, followed by 10pc who have not attended during the past year and 1pc who never attend.
The elderly are the most likely to attend on a weekly basis, with 70pc of those aged 65 and over attending each week.
However, the poll found that a third of the 18-24 year-old churchgoers attend on a weekly basis, while almost a quarter (22pc) of young people attend once a month or more.
The telephone poll of 1,000 respondents conducted between October 19 and 21 also found that churchgoers are more likely to attend on a weekly basis in rural areas (56pc), compared with 38pc of churchgoers who attend services on a weekly basis in Dublin.
The poll also found that Fianna Fail voters were the most likely to attend on a monthly basis (72pc), followed by Fine Gael (68pc) and Labour (65pc).
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