Four out of 10 people overall and only 14 per cent of young people see weekly Mass attendance as very important, according to an Irish Times/MRBI opinion poll.
The poll shows the level of recognition of the Catholic Primate, Dr Sean Brady, is lower than that of his Church of Ireland counterpart, Dr Robin Eames, and well below that of a variety of other public figures.
Some 40 per cent of people believe it is very important to go to Mass on Sundays. At the other end of the scale, 13 per cent said it was not at all important. Asked to rank the importance of Mass attendance on a scale of one to 10, 66 per cent placed it in the upper half while 33 per cent put it in the lower.
The poll was conducted among a national quota sample of 1,000 electors at 100 sampling points throughout the State over two weeks in September. It was part of a special Irish Times/MRBI poll commissioned for methodology purposes. The political results were published in September, and the collation of the results of the full research has now been completed.
There is an enormous disparity between age groups on the importance attached to going to Sunday Mass. Seventy-four per cent of those aged over 65 see it as very important, but this figure falls steadily through the younger age groups to just 14 per cent in the 18-24 age group. More women (47 per cent) than men (34 per cent) see it as very important. Almost a quarter (23 per cent) of Dublin people see it as not important at all (national average 13 per cent).
Some 48 per cent of Fianna Fail voters, considerably above the national average, see weekly Mass attendance as very important, with this figure lower among supporters of Fine Gael (47 per cent), Labour (32 per cent), Progressive Democrats (33 per cent) and others (33 per cent).
Just 17 per cent could name Dr Brady correctly compared with 28 per cent who could name his Church of Ireland counterpart, Dr Eames.
The major shareholder in Independent Newspapers, Dr Tony O'Reilly, is among those with a considerably higher profile, being named correctly by 32 per cent of voters.
The President, Mrs McAleese, was named correctly by 94 percent; the Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, was identified by 93 per cent; the Fine Gael leader, Mr John Bruton, by 76 per cent; the Tanaiste and PD leader, Ms Harney, by 79 per cent; the Labour Party leader, Mr Ruairi Quinn, by 56 per cent. The President of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, Ms Inez McCormack, was named correctly by just 2 per cent.
Asked to classify the importance of certain patterns of behaviour, 86 per cent said it was very important not to drive after drinking. Voting in a general election was seen as very important by 54 per cent; taking physical exercise or playing sport at least once a week by 37 per cent; reading a newspaper every day by 33 per cent; and being able to speak some Irish by 12 per cent.