Level 1 Actions Part B: Level 3 Actions - Donegal County Council

Diversity of Religion in Schools
The largest categories of each religious type in the State fall into the 0 – 14 years of age categories (864,449
persons). See Table 8(a) & 8(b)
Over the boom years, from 1981 – 2006, there was an influx of other stated religions from 233 to 2300
persons in County Donegal. Over this period there was huge inward migration into the county in search of
work and job opportunities that the Celtic Tiger promised and delivered, however these inward migrants either
bought their families or started their families while living in County Donegal. The majority of the number of
persons falling into each of the religious categories, Muslim (Islamic), Other Christian Religions, Methodist and
Other Stated Religions, are aged 0 – 14 years of age. The likely integration of these children through the
school environment will add to the religious diversity within the county for many years to come. See Table 8(c)
& 8 (d)
62,475 people had selected into the ever-married category in County Donegal
Recall in Factsheet 3 that in County Donegal, we have a young population and that people are choosing to get
married later on in life, however it is still interesting to examine to likelihood of ever being married with a
persons religious type taking into consideration.
In County Donegal, 62,475 people had selected into the ever-married category (includes those still married,
separated or divorced) of which it appears from these samples that Methodists (52.1%), Other Stated Religions
(52%), Muslims (49.6%) and Presbyterians (46.8%) are more like to have ever married. The Roman Catholics
are the least likely to have ever married, however it is important to note that these comprise of the largest
segment of the population. In addition, from each sample it was possible to determine the percentages of the
population who are now widowed, the highest percentage occurred for the Church of Ireland including
Protestants (6.3%), closely followed by Presbyterians and Methodists (both 5.8%). Table 9(a) - (9d)
There were 6988 widowed persons and 77,801 single persons in County Donegal
Ethnicity
County Donegal has a lower percentage of its population falling into ”other than Irish” ethnic or
cultural background than in the State
The difficulties of placing or classifying a person into a particular ethnic or culture background is well
documented and, therefore, the Census allows a person to self select or self determine which background they
belong to. This is particularly important, as the Island of Ireland becomes a more culturally diverse country,
Table 10 (a) and (b) identifies that the majority of the population in County Donegal regards themselves as
Irish (133,753 persons) and this is higher in percentage terms than the State (92.3% versus 87.4%). The next
highest segment would be the people who select into ‘any other white background’, although this is lower in
County Donegal (4.8%) than for the State (6.9%) it still accounts for 6,976 people. In addition, 982 falling into
the ‘other including mixed background’, 618 from the ‘any other Asian background’, there are 593 people of
African background, there are 365 Irish Travellers in County Donegal, 146 persons of Chinese background and
63 persons from ‘any other black background’. 7.7% of the population of County Donegal classify their
ethnicity and cultural backgrounds as being ‘other than Irish’ and this is lower than the State of 12.6%.
Conclusion
Traditionally in Ireland, people may have been defined by their religion, however, in recent times there is more
emphasis placed on where a person comes from or their ethnical or cultural background. The Melting Pot
analogy could be continuosly applied to ensure that the ingredients in the pot (people of different cultures,
races and religions) are combined so as to develop a multi-ethnic society