A survey for Catholic counselling service Accord has found that 32% of people think that "couples who have children ought to be married".

The survey also found that 65% of people believe a child is more likely to grow up happy if raised "in a home with a loving mother and father".

Only 51% said that most married couples they knew had "happy healthy marriages", but this figure was higher in 2006 at 60%.

While 54% disagreed that marriage as an institution is "old-fashioned or out-moded", and this was down from 64% in 2006.

Some 64% believed couples should live together first in order to decide if they would suit being married - this figure was slightly higher at 67% in 2006.

And 61% considered marriage as a life-long commitment, which has increased from 56% in 2006.

Accord says this view is particularly strong among young people aged 25 to 34 years, and fewer people believe that the importance of family is decreasing in Ireland.

The survey comes ahead of a referendum on same-sex marriage this May.

Commenting on the survey the Bishop of Kildare and Leighlin, Denis Nulty, claimed it was of "vital importance to society that the definition of marriage is protected, sustained and supported."