I guess so Peter. IIRC there was a survey done about thirty years ago which found a third of people in the Republic would not let an atheist into their homes. When I first went there in the mid-1970s, the place was far too close to being a theocracy for comfort.
However, my understanding is that people in the Republic nowadays are much more tolerant about religion than they were. Mary Kenny's book "Goodbye Catholic Ireland", published about a decade ago, showed that the dominance of the Catholic Church was on its way out.
Strangely, I hear that the Church of Ireland is the fastest growing church in the South. Any reason for that, Peter? It's basically low Anglican than Anglo-Catholic.
Roger