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Catholic World News News Feature

Irish survey shows mixed results on marriage April 23, 2007

Most young Irish couples lived together before marriage, according to a survey made public by Accord, the Irish bishops' agency for supporting marriage.

Bishop Willie Walsh of Killaloe, the president of Accord, said that the overall results of the survey were "clearly good news about marriage." He cited the strong majority of couples indicating that they were very happy with their marriages (77%), that the marital bond had strengthened their relationships (63%), and that they would recommend marriage to other couples (90%).

However the survey showed evidence that many couples took a casual attitude toward Church teachings on marriage. Some 58% of the couples surveyed had cohabited before they were married. And 7% of the children born to the survey respondents arrived before the marriage took place. About one-fourth of those surveyed said that they were "not at all" religious.

The survey also uncovered some concern about public policies regarding the family, with only 7% saying that the government currently does enough to support marriage.

The survey covered 712 couples-- 1,424 individuals-- who had been married within the last 7 years. Only 7% of the survey respondents had seriously considered divorce, but couples who were already divorced were not included in the polling.