Hinduism in the Republic of Ireland

For an article on Hinduism specifically in Northern Ireland, see Hinduism in Northern Ireland

Hinduism is a minority religion in Ireland, followed by 0.3% of the country's population.[1] It is also the second fastest-growing religions by percentage in Ireland[2]. Despite this, there are only a small number of recognised temples in the country.

History

The vast majority of Welsh Hindus settled in Wales during the second half of the 20th century and came from a number of countries, including India and Uganda. They came in search for economic opportunities, to join family members and/or to seek a safe haven from persecution in their homelands. Today, Wales’ Hindu population is made up of those individuals who came directly from the Indian sub-continent, descendants of those who had originally migrated to other countries but later resettled in Wales, and those born and raised in Wales.[3]

Demographics

Hindus in Northern Ireland

Year	Percent	Increase
1991	0.03%	+0.08%
2002	0.08%	+0.05%
2006	0.14%	+0.06%
2011	0.23%	+0.09%
2016	0.30%	+0.07%

Historical Hindu Population

Year	Pop.	±%
1991	953	—
2002	3,099	+225.2%
2006	6,082	+96.3%
2011	10,688	+75.7%
2016	14,300	+33.8%

The 2016 Irish Census recorded 14,300 Hindu residents in Ireland, making up 0.30% of the population.[4] [5][1]

In the 2016 Irish Census, Hinduism grew by 34% to surpass 14000 people, even faster than Islam (29% increase over the same time period).[2] Hinduism now makes up 0.3% of the population, growing 10-fold as a share of the population in 25 years (from the 1991 census to the 2016 census). Hinduism is now the 7th largest Religion, ahead of Pentecostal.[1]

According to the 2016 census, there are 87 Hare Krishnas in Ireland[6], down from 91 Hare Krishna's in 2011 census.[7]

Age and sex

Hindus are younger than the general population with an average age for men of 29.5 and for women 27.3 compared with 36.7 and 38.0 for the general population. There were 132 Hindu men for every 100 Hindu women in 2016, a ratio which has fallen from 157 per 100 ten years earlier.[8]       

Profession and Social class

Just over half (50.6%) of Hindus at work were in the broad occupational category 'professional'. Of all Hindus workers 15.0 per cent were programmers and software development professionals.Hindus(18.4%) were more concentrated in the higher social classes than the general population(8.1%) while 40.5 per cent lived in households classified to the managerial or technical class.Fewer relative numbers were found in the skilled manual, semi-skilled and unskilled occupations than for the general population (16.1% and 28.2% respectively).[8]

Nationality and ethnicity

Ethnicity of Hindus(excluding Hare krishnas)[9]
Ethnicity			Percent
Asian(other than Chinese)			79.5%
Mixed			15.42%
White Irish			1.34%
Black			1.92%
Other White			0.7%
Not stated			1.1%

In all 41.7 per cent of Hindus were of Indian nationality. This was followed very closely by Irish (41.6%), Mauritian (6.9%) and Nepalese (3.0%). Of the Hindus with Irish nationality (5,676 persons), 35.1 per cent were born in Ireland.[8]

The census results show that 79.5 per cent of Hindus declared themselves to be of Asian (other than Chinese) ethnicity, compared with 80.4 per cent in 2011.

Hindu temples

The following is a list of known Hindu temples in the Republic of Ireland.

Donegal

Temples in Donegal:

• Hindu Temple and Indian Community Centre, Letterkenny, Co. Donegal[10]

Dublin

Temples in Dublin:

• Nivedita House (Ramakrishna Math and Mission), Dublin [11]
• Hare Krishna Cultural Centre (ISKCON), Dublin 1.[12]
• Vinayaka Temple, Kingswood, Dublin 24.[13]
• Sarva Sampradaya Hindu Temple Ireland (HCCI), Lucan, South Dublin.[14]

Meath

Temples in Meath:

• B.A.P.S. Swaminarayan Sanstha, Enfield, County Meath.[15]

See also

• Religion in the Republic of Ireland
• Hinduism in Northern Ireland
• Hinduism in the United Kingdom
• Hinduism in England
• Hinduism in Scotland
• Hinduism in Wales
• Hinduism in the West
• Hindu eschatology

References

1. http://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/releasespublications/documents/population/2017/Chapter_8_Religion.pdf
2. Ghoshal, Arkadev (April 7, 2017). "Hinduism one of the fastest growing religions in Ireland, outpacing Islam". International Business Times, India Edition.
3. Pyke, Chris (October 17, 2014). "Welsh History Month: The vast majority of Welsh Hindus settled in Wales during the second half of the 20th century". walesonline.
4. Patsy McGarry (2012-03-30). "Ireland remains overwhelmingly Catholic". Irishtimes.com. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
5. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249058598_Changing_religions_in_the_Republic_of_Ireland_19912002
6. "Census finds 2,000 devotees to Star Wars 'Jedi' religion". Independent.ie.
7. https://statbank.cso.ie/px/pxeirestat/Statire/SelectVarVal/saveselections.asp
8. "Religion - Non-Christian". cso.ie/en. Central Statistics Office, Government of Ireland. Retrieved 20 October 2019. Material was copied from this source, which is available under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
9. "Diagram". statbank.cso.ie.
10. "INDIAN COMMUNITY CENTRE - Letterkenny, Co. Donegal". Archived from the original on 28 February 2012. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
11. "Éire Vedanta Society". rkmireland.org. Retrieved 22 August 2018.
12. "History - Krishna Ireland Dublin Temple". Dublin Krishna Temple. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
13. "Ireland Ananda Sidhi Vinayaka Temple". www.ivt.ie. Retrieved 30 August 2017.
14. "Essence of Hinduism | Hindu". Hindu.ie. Retrieved 2015-06-02.
15. "BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir". Archived from the original on 2013-06-11.