Across the country a largely Catholic movement seeks the presence of the Holy Spirit through prayer meetings.
The charismatic renewal movement now has thousands of followers in Ireland with over 200 charismatic meetings taking place every week throughout the country.
These people are praying to receive the holy spirit of the Christian Pentecost. They are Charismatics.
While the followers come from all demographic backgrounds, the majority of followers are middle-aged women.
The charismatic movement is ecumenical, seeking the revival of spiritualism and is largely the voice of the laity.
A musical group and bouncy, joyful hymns are a regular feature of most charismatic meetings.
At a meeting in Sallynoggin, group founder Finbar Keogh leads the meeting in prayer in a ritual known as 'praising'.
A discordant mix of people emotionally repeating simple religious phrases. It could be mistaken for a superstitious rite.
While at first this form of prayer seems like an "unorchestrated babble", gradually a unintelligible harmony emerges which they call "praising in tongues" and believe it to be a gift or "charism" of the Holy Spirit. This can then lead into prophesying by which it is believed that the Holy Spirit is channelled through an individual.
A pentecostalist from the American Bible Belt might feel at home here. Some Irish parish priests might not.
This episode of 'Tuesday Report' was broadcast on 1 February 1977. The reporter is Forbes McFall.
