Fewer than half of primary school teachers teach religion willingly and more than 70% of teachers say that preparing their pupils for the sacraments takes up more classroom time than is officially made available.

The findings are part of new survey by the Irish National Teachers Organisation (INTO). 363 teachers were polled on religion in primary school at the end of last year.

The survey found that just less than 49% of teachers taught religion willingly. That is a drop of 12% on the same question a decade ago.

But there was also an increase of 8% in those not opposed to teaching religion compared to 2002.

The poll looked at the amount of extra time teachers dedicated to preparing children for their communion and confirmation outside religion class. They reported anything from an extra 30 minutes to 9 hours of time inside school per week.

In addition teachers reported that anything from a 30 minutes to 10 hours outside of school was given to sacramental preparation.