Despite strong competition from dating agencies and the Internet, Knock Marriage Bureau had wedding bells ringing on 23 occasions last year. This was an increase of two on the 1999 figure, according to the bureau's director, Father Michael Keane.
A delighted Father Keane, whose service has resulted in 763 marriages and more than 13,300 introductions since it was established in 1968, said yesterday : "In spite of the competition from dating agencies and the fact that couples are meeting over the Internet, the numbers using our service are increasing.
"We're not on the Internet but the bureau may have its own website later in the year with the help of two computer programers whom we recently introduced to one another."
Farmers and nurses were once again to the fore in the list of 356 men and women who made inquiries to the bureau last year, followed by technicians and tradesmen (men) and teachers and secretaries (women).
Nine of the men seeking romance were in the 60plus age bracket, while only one female applicant was in that category. The largest number of enquiries, for both men and women, once again came from Dublin, followed by Galway and Cork.
There was also a number of inquiries from the United States and England and one from Canada. Almost one-third of the 188 men and more than half of the 169 women who contacted the bureau last year had third-level education.