Most primary school teacher believe families or parishes should be held responsible for preparing children for communion and confirmation.
A survey of teachers carried out by the Irish National Teachers' Organisation (INTO) revealed just 4% feel the responsibility should lie with schools.
The same survey found that two thirds of respondents believe primary schools should be secular as opposed to having religious patrons.
Publishing the findings, the INTO said the survey "provides a valid dataset for analysing the views and opinions of INTO members regarding religious education and school patronage".
57% of respondents said religious instruction should not take place in primary schools. This rose to two thirds among teachers under 44 years of age.
Currently the vast majority of primary schools are run by the churches, with the Catholic Church in charge of nine out of ten primary schools here.
33% of survey respondents said they taught religion willingly, while 20% said they would prefer if they did not have to teach religion.
87% of teachers say there are pupils attending their denominational schools who are not catholic, while 83% agreed that children in all schools should be taught about other religions.
