It has been claimed by an Irish website that over 10,000 people have attempted to defect from the Roman Catholic Church (RCC) in Ireland. The accuracy of the countmeout.ie figures have been disputed by the media and the Church in recent weeks.
It is now clear that the figure relates directly to the amount of people who have downloaded the defection form and not 10,436 official defections, as the website suggests.
The site, which also offers information and guidance on how to leave the Church, provides the three-step process that simplifies the creation of a Declaration of Defection.
Count Me Out have backtracked on their claim that the figure is accurate via Twitter but the "fact" remains posted on their website homepage.
“We only claim downloads since, obviously, we can't follow people to the post office. Also, figures include downloads from people outside Ireland,” posted on Count Me Out’s Twitter page on 7 June.
Therein lays the problem with the accuracy of the number of people who have officially strayed from the RCC.
There is no way of telling how many people have actually followed through after they downloaded the form and, as the tweet states, there is no exact figure on how many of these people are Irish.
“Incidentally, the Church previously told us that they don't keep records of defections, so the Irish Catholic figures may not be complete,” a further tweet clarifies.
Although these figures have been jostled around there is no disputing the fact that confidence in the Church remains low.
Thousands of Irish people have left the Church as a result of sex scandals, either through official declarations or by simply staying away from the structures which are in place.
SIC: JOE.ie