Economic and social factors are leading people to have children later in life, the Tánaiste has said, as he expressed concern about a “fractured” social contract.
Simon Harris said it is the role of Government to support and enable individuals to make major life decisions, reports Breaking News.
Ireland’s total fertility rate – the average number of live births per woman – has fallen from 3.85 in 1970 to 1.47 in 2024.
Analysis from the Department of Finance notes that “births per woman have dropped well below replacement rate”, resulting in an ageing population, reports Breaking News.
An increasing old-age dependency ratio will place added pressure on public finances, with rising costs for pensions, healthcare, and social services.
Speaking to the Press Association, Harris said: “It does raise a number of important policy questions and considerations. One, obviously, is the importance of skilled labour and skilled labour coming to our country and the very positive contribution that people who come to Ireland from abroad to work make in the country, reports Breaking News.
“How we factor that into our new national migration and integration strategy is important. Secondly, I think we also have to look at other issues in terms of how we can help and support people in terms of the social contract. People being able to buy their own home earlier, people being able to therefore consider their own life choices at an earlier stage and then other issues around childcare and the cost of raising a family.”
Harris said that two of the Government’s “big” social and economic priorities remain housing and childcare.
“People should always be prepared to make their own life decisions – it is entirely a matter for an individual – but the State should always be enabling people to make the decisions that they want, reports Breaking News.
“And where there’s housing delays and a childcare system that needs to be built and made more affordable – I think they are real big challenges.”
Asked whether financial pressures such as rising rents, house prices, and inflation are causing couples to delay having children, Harris said: “I don’t know if that’s all of it and I don’t want to fully speculate on that important issue.
“But what I do accept is if you’re not able to buy a house until a certain age in Ireland, or if childcare costs become a barrier in terms of decisions people make about their own lives – they are concerns for Government and society. The job of a Government is to assist people, and where it can’t directly assist, to at least enable.”
He added: “Childcare is something that I feel really strongly about because I think there are people who had a whole variety of decisions on hold, including their own careers, the amount of hours they can work – so it’s an economic as well as a social issue, reports Breaking News.”
Harris pointed to increases in weekly figures for first-time buyers and growth in home construction.
“But we know we have a lot more to do and the target of 300,000 homes over the lifetime of the Government remains the target,” he added, reports Breaking News.
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