Exploratory comparative study of Catholic and Protestant farmers in the Republic of Ireland

Abstract

The present paper stems from an examination of data from those Censuses of Population of the Republic of Ireland which have incorporated a Religious enquiry. Summary data for the whole country in these censuses indicate that, since 1926, a higher percentage of farmers in the larger farm-size were returned as Protestants (as opposed to Catholics) than is the case for the smaller farm-size categories. Further, throughout the period, the percentage of Protestants in each farm-size increases as the mid-point of the category increases. This was true both of the whole country and of County Kildare specifically.