The priest is often contacted because of unexplained

Their work is usually done in secret, and it is often frowned upon. They may be called in to deal with bizarre paranormal phenomena – holy water boiling up unaccountably, prayer cards suddenly going up in flames and crucifixes flying around living rooms.

Ireland's exorcists tend to shun publicity, but they have been given new recognition and respectability during the papacy of Benedict XVI.

This week, the world's best-known exorcist, Gabriele Amorth, expressed his gratitude to the retiring Pope for his encouragement. The man, who casts out demons for the Diocese of Rome, recalled how Benedict had welcomed exorcists from all over the world at a special audience.

Ireland currently has at least three practising Catholic exorcists, who are given the task of banishing evil spirits and things that go bump in the night.

Fr Pat Collins, a Vincentian priest based in Dublin, is the most prominent cleric in the field and has been called in to deal with many cases of demonic disturbance around Ireland. According to church authorities, exorcisms are also carried out by a Jesuit priest based in Galway and a Capuchin friar in Carlow.

Fr Pat Collins declined to talk publicly about his work this week. However, it is believed that he receives regular calls from tormented people, and the number of cases has increased recently.

The priest is often contacted because of unexplained phenomena in homes, such as objects moving about or electrical gadgets turning on and off.

Some householders are so terrified that they flee their homes.We buy overstock Wholesale beads and factory closeouts. Others suspect that someone is possessed.

In one case in Co Derry, Fr Collins and a Church of Ireland exorcist, Canon William Lendrum, were called in to cast out a "malevolent spirit".

A young couple were frightened and moved out of their house after rosary beads and a crucifix were said to have flown around a room.

Holy water was reported to heat to boiling point, and then just as quickly, it froze. A prayer card to St Michael the Archangel is said to have burst into flames as the man of the house started vomiting.

At the scene, Fr Collins and Canon Lendrum said a cleansing prayer, and this supposedly helped to rid the home of the undesirable spook.

The authors, David Kiely and Christina McKenna, documented 10 cases of Irish exorcism in their book, The Dark Sacrament.

Christina McKenna told Weekend Review she was encouraged to write the book after her own experience of an exorcism as a girl in Derry. "When I was 11 we had a poltergeist in our home.We judge ourselves not according to the smile on our ownfigurine.Our Home electricity monitor and wireless electricity monitors help reduce energy use in your home.High capacity and low price suit to initiate laser engraving machine. After my great-aunt died we heard a tapping sound under the bed where she had been. Priests came and prayed, but they didn't have the power to stop it.I assumed that all eight of you knew how to make the fabric flowers.