The dominant position of the Catholic Church

Protestantism has a far lower media profile than Catholicism within the Republic of Ireland. This is offset somewhat by its relative strength within Northern Ireland and by the availability of British state broadcasting within most of the island. However, with respect to the presence or otherwise of clergy in media debates and the arena of public discourse, Catholicism still occupies a dominant position, with Church representatives frequently invited to contribute on issues and topics considered to be the special preserve of the Church or where Church interests are directly implicated. Education, health and charitable ventures are prominent amongst these, including recent debates over immigration in response to which the Church has been particularly active. Non-christian media presence is virtually non-existent, though it is possible that this will change as numbers of Muslim migrants increase, and that even the "old" Western Christian profile will change in response to increased numbers of new evangelical Protestants and Eastern Orthodox migrants. However, the experience of older small communities of Chinese and Jewish, and their conspicuous lack of any media presence, suggests that the pluralisation of religious representation and participation in media may be slow in coming.