Irish National Heritage Park in the context of "Neolithic Age"

The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Greek νέος néos 'new' and λίθος líthos 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BC to c. 2,000 BC). It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts of the world. This "Neolithic package" included the introduction of farming, domestication of animals, and change from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle to one of settlement. The term 'Neolithic' was coined by John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement of the three-age system.

The Neolithic began about 12,000 years ago, when farming appeared in the Epipalaeolithic Near East and Mesopotamia, and later in other parts of the world. It lasted in the Near East until the transitional period of the Chalcolithic (Copper Age) from about 6,500 years ago (4500 BC), marked by the development of metallurgy, leading up to the Bronze Age and Iron Age.

Christianity arrived in Ireland sometime before the 5th century, presumably in interactions with Roman Britain. When the British gained full control of Ireland by means of a series of military campaigns in the period 1534–1691, the island was progressively colonised by English and Scottish Protestant settlers. Most of the Irish remained Roman Catholic.

Roman Catholicism is still the largest religious denomination, representing over 69% of the population of the island and about 69% of the population of the Republic of Ireland in the 2022 census.