A Fragmented Minority: The Challenges to Public Institutionalisation of Islam in Ireland

Abstract

Muslims in the Republic of Ireland are a religious minority of 63,400 people (2016), a rapidly expanding part of the population of which the majority are not Irish citizens. The chapter examines the progress of private and public institutionalisations of Islam in the Republic of Ireland, which lie in the recognition of Islam by the society and the state. This process started locally with the foundation of Islamic societies, and was later complemented by the setting-up of national representative bodies such as the Islamic Foundation of Ireland and the Islamic Cultural Centre of Ireland. Louvet argues that the necessary transition between private and public institutionalisation has been a faltering process, partly due to the challenges raised by the fragmented character of the Muslim population in the Republic of Ireland.