IRELAND
Irish Independent

By Edel O’Connell

Monday June 11 2012

JUST more than half of an expected 20,000 pilgrims descended on Dublin’s RDS yesterday for the opening event of the International Eucharistic Congress.

Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin and the Papal Legate Cardinal Marc Ouellet addressed an audience made up largely of overseas pilgrims from 123 countries, in a ceremony where numbers were noticeably less than anticipated.

The attendance is a far cry from 1932 when more than a quarter of the population,or one million, attended the international event.