According to recent study, over 70% of individuals aged 25 to 34 have stated that the expense of home ownership is delaying marriage and/or starting a family, reports RTE.
48% of couples who planned to be married would have done it sooner if it weren’t for the housing situation, according to the study, which was conducted on behalf of Accord, the Catholic Church’s marriage preparation and counselling service.
According to one-third of respondents, they would have gotten married in the last three years but chose not to, reports RTE.
According to the research, 36% of couples who planned to have children said they would have done so in the last three years but chose not to, and 60% of couples said they would have done so sooner if it weren’t for their housing situation.
The results were deemed “significant and striking” by Tony Shanahan, the director of Accord.
According to Mr. Shanahan, they demonstrate the degree to which couples’ decisions to marry and start a family are influenced by the shortage of available homes, reports RTE.
He added: “This has serious social implications now and into the future,” reports RTE.
The study’s findings were made public at the same time as two engaged couples’ rings were blessed in Dublin’s Carmelite Church on Whitefriar Street, which houses Saint Valentine’s relics.
Louise O’Reilly and David Lovett, one of the couples, have been dating for 14 years and are getting married next year, reports RTE.
They said that one of the reasons they didn’t marry sooner was housing.
‘We have been together a really long time, so I guess it was just a number of life things that maybe got in the way. But, overall, I absolutely agree with those statistics. It’s incredibly hard. What’s happening now in this current housing environment…and I definitely feel that the young people and Irish people as a whole have been let down terribly,” Ms O’Reilly said, reports RTE.
According to the poll, 39% of those impacted say that the scarcity of housing where couples reside causes delays, and 37% say that the expense of renting is a factor.
54% of respondents between the ages of 25 and 34 stated that they intend to get married and/or start a family, reports RTE.
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