Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Shutterstock

Women in Ireland are having fewer children

Teen pregnancies are down too, according to the CSO.

Updated 22:25

WOMEN IN IRELAND had fewer children last year than in 2012, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office today.

In 2013, the fertility rate for Ireland was 1.96, down from 2.01 the previous year.

The figure takes into account females aged 15-49 years and represents the projected number of children a woman would have.

Some 68,930 births were registered last year – a drop of almost 3,300.

However, this figure still represents an 11.7 per cent increase on 2004, when just under 62,000 births took place.

The average age women become mothers now stands at 32.1 years. Over a third of births in 2013 took place outside of marriage, while a quarter of all mothers here do not hold Irish nationality.

Teen pregnancies

In the ten year period from 2004, the number of teenage pregnancies dropped from 2,560 annually (4.2 per cent of the total number) to 1,381 last year (2 per cent of the total).

Some 21,770 marriages were registered in 2013, up by 1,057 from 2012.

Deaths

Just over 30,000 people died in 2013, an increase of 1,170 from 2012. Some 228 infants died, 164 of which represented babies under the age of four weeks.

Three in four deaths were due to cancer or heart problems.

There were 475 cases of death by suicide registered last year, a drop from 507 in 2012. Men accounted for the vast majority of these deaths – more than 83 per cent.

The number of young people, 15-24 year olds, who died by suicide decreased from 74 in 2012 to 57 last year.

Originally published 16:55

Read: Suicides among young people decreased significantly last year

Read: Couples with fertility problems warned about cholesterol link

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
95 Comments
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Brian Ó Dálaigh
    Favourite Brian Ó Dálaigh
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 5:11 PM

    “Less fertile” is suggestive of an increasing medical problem amongst women. The truth is that for a lot they are simply choosing not to have children. Another factor is the emigration of a lot of young women who would otherwise have stayed and had children here.

    487
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Emily Elephant
    Favourite Emily Elephant
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 5:17 PM

    No, it leaves out emigration and immigration. The TFR tells you how many babies the average woman will have in her lifetime. 2.1 is the “replacement rate” – below that, you see a declining population. That’s both a strength and a weakness in the measure. Substantial migration makes a mess of all the clever predictions which hang off it.

    Either way, you’re right that it generally has nothing to do with medical problems. It measures fecundity, not fertility.

    148
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ian Mac Eochagáin
    Favourite Ian Mac Eochagáin
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 5:18 PM

    I second the view that the word fertility is mis-used. I would say Irish women are giving birth to fewer children or that the replacement rate is falling. Quite surprising that it’s below 2 in Ireland, I have to say.

    147
    See 20 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Niall o' Sullivan
    Favourite Niall o' Sullivan
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 5:21 PM

    Interesting Emily – I had wondered about that before.

    36
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Emily Elephant
    Favourite Emily Elephant
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 5:36 PM

    What I don’t understand is why it doesn’t seem to have occurred to anyone in the CSO to work out whether families are getting smaller or more women are not having any babies at all. (Or both). Surely family sizes are very relevant in determining social policy, tax policy, child benefits etc.? If they do this work, they hide it well.

    117
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ian Mac Eochagáin
    Favourite Ian Mac Eochagáin
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 5:44 PM

    Arrah go way out of that. Statistics? Planning? Policy? Together? Stop making so much sense :)

    148
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Smiley
    Favourite Smiley
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 8:52 PM

    @Brian. “Less fertile” simply means they’ve spent so much time living the high life or looking for Mr Perfect (who doesn’t exist, by the way—we are all fallible humans), they’ve forgotten their biological clock ticking away…

    46
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Brian Ó Dálaigh
    Favourite Brian Ó Dálaigh
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 8:55 PM

    Sorry, Smiley, I didn’t realise you saw women as only baby factories. Do you think they shouldn’t be allowed to have good jobs or that they should just settle for the first guy they meet?

    277
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mary Kavanagh
    Favourite Mary Kavanagh
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 9:00 PM

    That’s called joined-up thinking, Emily. Not our planners’ (?) greatest strength.

    49
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ian Mac Eochagáin
    Favourite Ian Mac Eochagáin
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 9:04 PM

    Don’t doubt yourself Mary – the apostrophe was in the right place :)

    41
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Smiley
    Favourite Smiley
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 9:17 PM

    @Brian. I don’t see women as baby factories, but let’s face it, men can’t produce babies yet, apart from their little act at the beginning. So, I still maintain that women’s biological clocks do keep ticking, while woman look for the perfect partner, or save up for the perfect house, before committing to child-bearing. The optimal age for women’s fertility is 18 years old. One women are over 30 their fertility rates decrease dramatically. Hence the need for IVF treatment. If people would just accept that Mother Nature rules fertility, have he child or children they want, younger, then save for the house, the car, the clothes or whatever…
    Remember, too, our Earth can only sustain a certain population. Fewer children being born is helping the Earth.

    33
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mary Kavanagh
    Favourite Mary Kavanagh
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 9:36 PM

    Thank you, Ian!

    13
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Yvonne O'Hara
    Favourite Yvonne O'Hara
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 9:58 PM

    When you were with your 18 year old wife to be, were you begging her to bare you a child???

    100
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Clar Ni Threinfhir
    Favourite Clar Ni Threinfhir
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 11:20 PM

    Ditto for male fertility and the quality of sperm!

    68
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Orla Matthews
    Favourite Orla Matthews
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 11:42 PM

    Actually sunshine it’s 35 when fertility really starts to decline in women, from 25-35 it’s only slightly. In actual fact what determines a successful fertilisation and pregnancy is the quality of the woman’s eggs, and it’s this quality that starts to decline after 35. Sperm quality in men over a certain age is also a determining factor.
    But in fairness sunshine none of this matters if you don’t want or can’t afford children, or just choose not to do it on your own as you haven’t settled for some man just so you can have children… Thankfully we don’t live in the Middle Ages anymore!

    115
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean Mahoney
    Favourite Sean Mahoney
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 11:58 PM

    Good, less scroungers robbing us blind on child benefit.

    29
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rossa Crowe
    Favourite Rossa Crowe
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 2:17 AM

    Thats because eastern european women are better looking. Less attitude as well.

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Rossa Crowe
    Favourite Rossa Crowe
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 2:27 AM

    We should all except our roles.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Brian Ó Dálaigh
    Favourite Brian Ó Dálaigh
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 2:36 AM

    @ Sean – those “scroungers” you speak off will be providing for your pension in later life. Less children means we will have a massive demographic crisis with not enough people to fuel the power plants, grow the food, build the houses and retirement homes, etc.
    @ Rossa – What attitude is this you speak of? Would you like all your women to be obedient and subservient to their male owners?

    69
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Catherine Mill
    Favourite Catherine Mill
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 9:08 PM

    Less fertile. Reading this is like reading about fertility among animals.
    Well, considering women are deemed breeders in the ancient sacred texts and men are here to husband them, then the language of fertility makes sense.
    Still archaic language use.

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Fiona McKenna
    Favourite Fiona McKenna
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 10:46 PM

    So all the women in this country are scrounges even the millionaires that are also entitled to it too?

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sarah Jane Colhoun Scally
    Favourite Sarah Jane Colhoun Scally
    Report
    Jun 1st 2014, 12:01 AM

    And I suppose you’re stunningly handsome…

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sarah Jane Colhoun Scally
    Favourite Sarah Jane Colhoun Scally
    Report
    Jun 1st 2014, 12:06 AM

    Oh my gosh!!!! Thank you Smiley for reminding me that my life is not mine to live! I am not on this planet to be a beneficial member of society, a contributor to my community! I am obviously here to be the the VESSEL that carries the spawn of such WORTHY specimens of the male species!! And these specimens should be determined as the first male that crosses my path. And yet something makes me think you would also be very negative towards those who are happily procreating without any thought of responsibility…

    4
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Wanaka
    Favourite Wanaka
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 4:56 PM

    It normally takes two to make a baby a man and a woman so may we take it that male fertility was down too?

    285
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jean Paul Valley
    Favourite Jean Paul Valley
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 5:19 PM

    Appalling headline. Feel sorry for the couples with fertility problems reading this.

    Just people people had less babies last year doesn’t mean that they are less fertile.

    Really thoughtless.

    353
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Les Rock
    Favourite Les Rock
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 6:01 PM

    Agreed Jean. People probably chose not to have children. I wonder does the author realise theres a recession on. People probably can’t afford it

    172
    See 9 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Wanaka
    Favourite Wanaka
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 6:10 PM

    No one knows what’s going on in anyone’s relationship; in fact there maybe men out there who didn’t want kids and had vasectomy’s unknown to their partners or women who had tubal ligations or taking contraceptives their partners know nothing about. After all we all have choices these days not available to our parents and grandparents.
    It’s appalling the used that sentence as the headline they could have led with the decline in teenage pregnancy.

    83
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jean Paul Valley
    Favourite Jean Paul Valley
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 6:58 PM

    Ah here. They’ve change the headline but it’s still wrong. The “fertility rate” speaks towards the number of children a woman may have. It does NOT represent the biological fertility of women – ie – the ability of women to have children.

    The statistics show that less children were born per woman last year. It says absolutely nothing as far as I can see about women’s fertility. It just says the less children were born per woman.

    82
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hairy lemon
    Favourite Hairy lemon
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 7:15 PM

    The number of children born during the recession is hugely up Les…. but don’t let facts get in the way of a whinge.

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hallie Burton
    Favourite Hallie Burton
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 7:31 PM

    Surely the headline reflects a report on national statistics and not about individuals?

    20
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute roryboyle
    Favourite roryboyle
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 8:36 PM

    I guess the gay lobby is taking on…

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Smiley
    Favourite Smiley
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 8:48 PM

    @JeanPaul. Get over the PC crap, okay. So some can’t have children. That is difficult, but it has little to do with the fact that couples, generally, are having fewer (not less) children. Perspective is everything, in this case.

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ian Mac Eochagáin
    Favourite Ian Mac Eochagáin
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 9:06 PM

    They’ve changed the headline twice now, from “less children” to “fewer” and then to one mentioning fertility! But the article text still says “less children”…

    30
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tom Cross
    Favourite Tom Cross
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 11:20 PM

    One in every four is born to a non national? That’s a shocking figure

    72
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ian Mac Eochagáin
    Favourite Ian Mac Eochagáin
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 12:09 AM

    I’m willing to bet a large proportion of those are UK and other EU citizens.

    38
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tommy C
    Favourite Tommy C
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 5:24 PM

    Irish people who work or who want to work cant afford kids. Our welfare classes are churning them oug regardless.

    162
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tom Cross
    Favourite Tom Cross
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 11:25 PM

    Spot on tommy, you only need to drive through any council estate to see this. It really makes you worry for the future of the country

    43
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Claire Miller
    Favourite Claire Miller
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 12:47 AM

    Not everyone living in a council estate are scrounging of the government, I was a teenage mom I had my son in 5th year went on to finish school done a course and I’m working full time, I’m not claiming rent allowance I am getting children’s allowance but every single parent in this country gets it whether there rich of poor so don’t go around tarring everyone from a council estate with the same brush get your facts right first

    61
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute nutzen cider
    Favourite nutzen cider
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 4:59 PM

    The figures for suicide for men is absolutely shocking. The complete inaction of the government and the health service is more shocking.

    124
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ian Mac Eochagáin
    Favourite Ian Mac Eochagáin
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 5:45 PM

    Agreed. About twice that of road deaths, if I remember right. Unbelievable.

    57
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sinéad Coyne
    Favourite Sinéad Coyne
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 6:51 PM

    The headline is appalling. Not every woman wants kids – I know I don’t!

    99
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Thors Big Hammer
    Favourite Thors Big Hammer
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 5:07 PM

    Social welfare migrants must be down too as a result.

    70
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mary Dundee
    Favourite Mary Dundee
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 9:24 PM

    I have 3 children….my husband and I decided to try for #4. Found out last week it week it will be twins.
    Thought it would be great to have the other childrens buggies and car seats etc…now it turns out we need to change the car, get new baby stuff……it is an expensive business but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

    66
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Irish Red
    Favourite Irish Red
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 9:45 PM

    Congrats!

    26
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Giz
    Favourite Giz
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 1:06 AM

    That happened to my sister too – congratulations! Here’s to a household filled with love and laughter :)

    21
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sue Kelly
    Favourite Sue Kelly
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 5:38 PM

    How are they sure it’s down to fertility problems, maybe people are being a lot more careful as not a lot of people are earning more than the minimum wage!!!

    62
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jean Paul Valley
    Favourite Jean Paul Valley
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 5:51 PM

    Sue – it isn’t about fertility. It’s just a very badly worded headline.

    61
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sue Kelly
    Favourite Sue Kelly
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 11:39 PM

    Cool, point taken! Thanks Jean

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Catherine Mill
    Favourite Catherine Mill
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 7:21 PM

    Fertility- like women are still seen as breeders for the system.

    57
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Niall H
    Favourite Niall H
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 5:51 PM

    The title of this article needs to be rephrased

    55
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hallie Burton
    Favourite Hallie Burton
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 7:35 PM

    Again. The headline reflects the findings of the CSO and fertility is the term in common usage in this type of report.

    8
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Hallie Burton
    Favourite Hallie Burton
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 7:24 PM

    Lads prolly firing blanks due to wearing lady type knickers or tight jeans. Boxer drawers allow the wind to cool the goolies and up the sperm count.

    53
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Helen
    Favourite Helen
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 5:59 PM

    Ridiculous headline.

    48
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Niall Donnelly
    Favourite Niall Donnelly
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 6:59 AM

    The price of childcare would turn anybody off having a second child

    45
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Maria
    Favourite Maria
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 9:28 AM

    The cost of childcare is the reason why there is a big age gap between my two kids. It’s also the main reason why I will not be having a third.

    I don’t know how some people manage.

    31
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Bobby
    Favourite Bobby
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 5:13 PM

    Maybe it was the men.

    43
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Joe Hill
    Favourite Joe Hill
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 7:27 PM

    To be honest, last year was not a good year for me, was feeling tired and did not have my usual energy. This year I promise I am trying harder.

    42
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Kevin Butler
    Favourite Kevin Butler
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 12:04 AM

    More women are working nowadays mainly due to our economy etc… Very expensive for childminding so instead of having 3 or 4 kids they have 1 or 2

    40
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Smiley
    Favourite Smiley
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 8:56 PM

    Fewer births means the world will have fewer mouths to feed, so may become sustainable. Unlike the tripe the Vatican would have believers follow.

    39
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Maria
    Favourite Maria
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 9:32 AM

    No Smiley. The more babies that are born, the better for the economy in the long run.

    We have an ageing population. People are living longer. Who is going to pay for us when we are elderly? Who’s going to look after us?

    7
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Smiley
    Favourite Smiley
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 6:50 PM

    Sorry, Maria, I disagree. The more babies, the fewer resources to go around on our planet as a whole. As for your needing more babies to pay for your pension, how selfish are you? Save up for your own retirement, FFS, as I did.

    5
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Catherine Mill
    Favourite Catherine Mill
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 9:11 PM

    yes, every birth cert bond releases money based on how much the bonded child will contribute over its lifetime.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Donna Adams-Marum
    Favourite Donna Adams-Marum
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 7:39 AM

    Maybe fewer are having babies due to the fact people can’t afford to have them in Ireland. We can barely feed ourselves every week let alone bring an innocent into this messed up country that is bleeding everyone dry.

    34
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sargon
    Favourite Sargon
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 5:17 PM

    It’s because this year I haven’t been going around poking needle holes in packs of johnys

    32
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Pat Lennon
    Favourite Pat Lennon
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 6:47 PM

    Less money about, less women putting out.

    28
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Derek Durkin
    Favourite Derek Durkin
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 5:22 PM

    According to many geneticists like David Suzuki ,fertility for most humans will fall dramatically due to GMO foods as its not about changing the DNA of foods, it’s about changing our DNA and that’s why most elites only eat organic goods. Population control is the number one agenda on our planet at the moment.

    23
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jean Paul Valley
    Favourite Jean Paul Valley
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 5:31 PM

    How exactly, does the DNA contained in a GMO soya bean alter or in anyway affect the DNA I your body?

    Is it genetically modified to emit gamma rays?

    If your answer based on your comment is (which in truth should be) that you don’t know – then perhaps you shouldn’t spout that scientifically ridiculous rubbish?

    61
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jean Paul Valley
    Favourite Jean Paul Valley
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 5:42 PM

    And if you were familiar with David Suzuki’s work, which patently you are not – you would know that all he says about GMO foods is that the health effects are unproven and he says nothing referred to in your comment above.

    42
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Deep Beneath You
    Favourite Deep Beneath You
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 3:45 AM

    truth

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Miriam
    Favourite Miriam
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 8:49 PM

    Fewer. having fewer children

    23
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Taxi Bill
    Favourite Taxi Bill
    Report
    May 30th 2014, 5:52 PM

    also according to the same CSO we are supposed to have nearly 8,000,000 in the country in 50 years!

    18
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jack Bowden
    Favourite Jack Bowden
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 6:24 AM

    I’ve always thought having a baby when you’re 17, 18 or 19 was a good time to have a child. You’ve finished school and you’ve the energy and enthusiasm to raise a small baby. Teen pregnancies falling 42% in the last 10 years will been seen as good thing by many, especially in our media. No one should have children unless they want them no matter what their age.

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Maria
    Favourite Maria
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 9:39 AM

    I see your point Jack. Biologically having a baby at that age is probably a good thing.

    However, who is going to pay for it? What about providing stability for the child – I would be surprised if any 17, 18, 19 year has their own home and is in a relationship strong enough to withstand the pressures of having a child. Also, what about their own education? What about fun and having the chance to enjoy being young? What about travel and freedom?

    19
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jack Bowden
    Favourite Jack Bowden
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 3:29 PM

    I just think nowadays our life expectancies are so long and that we’re staying healthy for much longer that we can do almost everything at any age. We can go to college in our forties if we want. We can work until we’re 90 if we want. We can travel the world in our seventies. Yet still biologically when we’re young is the best time to have children.
    Our culture and society in the west puts a huge value on getting a college degree in our early twenties and then looking for the perfect job afterwards. There’s nothing stopping an intelligent young woman at 18 or 19 having a few children, then going to college in her late twenties and then getting that dream job in her thirties. Then working and paying taxes for the next forty years.
    Western media has frowned upon young women starting families early for a long time now. It’s probably one of the reasons why are birth rates are so low.

    2
    See 7 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute CAK
    Favourite CAK
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 6:52 PM

    hahaha Jack that has to be the most ridiculous comment I’ve ever heard!! So there’s nothing stopping an intelligent young woman at 18 or 19 having a few children then going to college in her late twenties. Well let me think about what was stopping me.

    Oh yeah, I was 18, I had no money bar that from a little part time babysitting job. I had no house, I lived at home and shared a room with my sister so I didn’t even have a room of my own. I had no boyfriend also. Like what do you expect to happen in this situation? I go out and get pregnant by some randomer because 18 is the best age to have a kid, then I live off the state for a few years with me and my baby in the same room as myself and my little sister and then I go to college afterwards when the kid is a bit older. And how do I pay for college and childcare for the kid at the same time? I could barely support myself through college as it was and that was with working all weekends which I wouldn’t be able to do with a child. And what about actually wanting to have kids with the person you love and want to spend the rest of your life with rather than some random guy you met at 18 years of age who could barely get entry into a nightclub.

    Your comment is ridiculous.

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Smiley
    Favourite Smiley
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 6:53 PM

    So, Maria, how old are you. Are you part of the ‘me generation’ who forgets that, while you’re having fun, your biological clock is ticking. Jack has the solution, beautifully put.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jack Bowden
    Favourite Jack Bowden
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 10:49 PM

    CAK There’s never the perfect time to have a baby. If you wait for the perfect time with the perfect guy you’ll end up with no kids.
    It is our society that encourages women to wait until they’re in their thirties before having children. That’s all I was saying.
    If you don’t want kids at 18 don’t have them. If ya don’t want them at 38, then don’t. But our society and media will have you believe the latter is much much better.
    Teenage pregnancies are always always always reported on as a bad thing in our media.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute CAK
    Favourite CAK
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2014, 3:39 PM

    “If you wait for the perfect time with the perfect guy you’ll end up with no kids”. Rubbish and scaremongering. I’m 28, just finishing up my PhD and met the perfect guy, we plan to have kids at 30-35 also where I will be in a position to support them with a partner at my side and adequate money to provide for them. If I’d had children at 18 I’d have no qualifications bar something from my local IT and a child that has no father or stable family home.

    Teenage pregnancies are generally a bad thing as they trap these women into the cycle I outlined above – no money, no home, need to rely on the government to provide for them and it is very difficult for them to get out of that trap and into university. Your comment is completely ridiculous. You clearly have no idea what you’re talking about.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute CAK
    Favourite CAK
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2014, 3:43 PM

    Additionally, having kids at 18 would’ve meant I would be unable to fulfil my academic potential and contribute fully to society as I plan to do once I complete my doctorate. Women are not baby making machines, it is possible to have a good job and then have children with someone you love and this is something we should aspire to rather than persuading children to have kids when they are not mentally or financially equip to be parents. Many of my friends are recently married/buying homes and will be planning to have kids in their early 30′s. These kids will be brought up in stable homes, with well educated parents who have done all they want to do in their twenties and want to parent.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Smiley
    Favourite Smiley
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2014, 5:44 PM

    Nobody said that you should have kids at 18, only that, from a biological point of view, 18 is around about a woman’s optimal fertility age. The biological clock does keep on ticking down from then. I know many women who have left their child-bearing until later, me included. Sadly, for some of them, the clock ticked faster so they either had fewer children than they’d hoped, had no children, or needed IVF. The point is, having fewer kids is better for the Earth, from a sustainability perspective.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jack Bowden
    Favourite Jack Bowden
    Report
    Jun 2nd 2014, 11:07 PM

    Turn on Newsnight right now. BBC2

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Smiley
    Favourite Smiley
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 6:57 PM

    Why do people even bother to have children at all if all they’re going to do is fob them off on a child minder? Said children will not grow up with their parents morals and mores, they’ll grow up with those of the child minder. Shame, isn’t it? Why can’t our society adjust, economically, so that parents are able to spend more time with their children?

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Patch Quinn
    Favourite Patch Quinn
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 8:04 AM

    It’s just women these days being cocky and ignorant. They don’t want kids end of.

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Maria
    Favourite Maria
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 9:40 AM

    Your comment is “cocky and ignorant”.

    27
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sarahruthbrady
    Favourite Sarahruthbrady
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 10:35 AM

    €680 per month for child care PER CHILD! Because you have to work to be able to pay the mortgage. That is what makes women think twice about how many children they’ll have, not cockiness. But I’m guessing you’ve been spurned by women a fair few times so that would explain the chip on your shoulder

    19
    See 2 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Collins
    Favourite John Collins
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 1:55 PM

    Patch, you’re an idiot.

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Catherine Mill
    Favourite Catherine Mill
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 9:15 PM

    still see women as nothing more than breeders then? to be owned/husbanded by the likes of you.?

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Eoin Sher
    Favourite Eoin Sher
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 4:00 AM

    2560 to 1381 is 4 per cent?

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute A2xF7BTC
    Favourite A2xF7BTC
    Report
    May 31st 2014, 11:32 AM

    Welcome to decline

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Patch Quinn
    Favourite Patch Quinn
    Report
    Jun 3rd 2014, 6:08 PM

    Nope actually I still stand by my comment. I came from a huge family and all my sibling and me myself have kids and the mothers work and have a happy life. The only ones who don’t want them are the ignorant to the fact people.

    1
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds