Irish Psychotherapist says birth rates in Ireland are dropping due to cost of living crisis

"I know from my friends who have children, the cost of childcare is as expensive as their mortgage"

An Irish psychotherapist has said Ireland’s birth rates have declined in part due to the cost of living crisis. With the rise in outgoing costs per household combined with the financial burden of childcare and mortgage repayments, many young people are simply not in a position to raise a child. Laya Healthcare estimates the cost of raising a child from birth until their 21st birthday is €105,321. Meanwhile, CSO figures show the average age of mothers is increasing here. In Q2 2022 the average age of all mothers in Ireland was 33.2 years, which is the same figure recorded in Q2 2021 - while 10 years ago the average age was 31.9 years for the same period. Margaret O’Connor, a Psychotherapist who helps people decide if they would like to become a parent, said money worries are a recurring issue for people. [caption id="attachment_427684" align="alignnone" width="2048"] Credit: Getty Images[/caption] Speaking to Newstalk’s Lunchtime Live, she said: “It can show up in lots of different ways. “It depends on each person’s situation. “If you’re in precarious employment, if you have a short-term contract or work from contract to contract, it’s really hard to plan. “It’s really hard to save [and] that might make it difficult to have suitable accommodation, to have a mortgage, to buy a house. “They go together, so obviously finance impacts a lot of other areas of life but it’s a real cause of concern for people.” One listener called the show and said that the discussion was an argument that feels all too familiar. “If you’re a renter in Dublin, if you’re a single person with one income, even if you earn the average industrial wage, you’re still sort of locked out from a mortgage because of the huge cost of one,” she said. “So, you’re stuck renting and I know from my friends who have children, the cost of childcare is as expensive as their mortgage. “A lot of people are struggling with cost of living increases, inflation and it’s a sum that I can’t square. “I don’t know how I could manage going on maternity leave; I’d have to put a child into childcare almost straight away after maternity leave.” Even if she can afford it at some point in the future, Cathy said it might be too late. “By the time I get to the stage in the career ladder where I might be economically able to support a child by myself - or if I met someone, who knows - I could be too old to have a child by the time I’m financially able to,” she said.

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