Religion in the Republic of Ireland
Christianity is the largest religion in the Republic of Ireland based on baptisms. Irish Christianity is dominated by the Catholic Church, and Christianity as a whole accounts for 82.3% of the Irish population. Most churches are organized on an all-Ireland basis which includes both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
Irish travellers have traditionally adopted a very particular attitude to the Catholic Church, with a focus on figures such as "healing priests". More generally a tradition of visions continues, often outside of Church sanction.
Eastern Orthodoxy in the Republic of Ireland
From the Orthodox perspective, the Irish Church was Orthodox prior to the Great Schism of 1054. Since the Gregorian Reforms did not immediately reach Ireland until the beginning of the twelfth century with the four great reforming synods of Cashel I (1101), Ráth Breasail (1111), Kells-Mellifont (1152), and Cashel II (1172), Ireland's progress away from her ancient communion with the rest of the Christian East was extremely slow and likely not felt in many isolated Christian communities until some time after the arrival of the Normans. Therefore, the great golden age of Irish saints and scholars is seen by the Orthodox as being Ireland's era of her true Christian Orthodoxy, as it was only after Ireland accepted the papal reforms that this golden period of intense asceticism ceased, and new, Roman Catholic orders of monasticism were introduced from the Continent. In recognition of this, Orthodox Patriarchates have begun to emphasize pre-schism Irish saints in their worship, and even building churches dedicated to them.