A newly-elected Kildare councillor has defended his remarks about Irish women needing to ‘breed’ more.
Following his election in Newbridge on Wednesday, Independent Cllr Tom McDonnell said the Irish are in danger of dying out because Irish women are not breeding enough.
"Our women are only breeding 1.5 or 1.6 children. That's shocking for an Irish woman. We've great women and we want them breeding," he said.
Cllr McDonnell, who comes from a large family, told Lunchtime Live research suggesting Irish women are having fewer children is "frightening".
"So I think Irish ladies, the great women of this country, were just forced into work because they have to pay their bills and they've not given tax incentives," he said.
Cllr McDonnell said he would like to see a similar system to Hungary where people with more children get more tax breaks.
"The indigenous Irish women - the working women I'm referring to - the more children they have, the more tax breaks they [should] get," he said.
"Say the tax band is €11,500, if you have an additional child, to rise it up another €7,000 or €8,000 so it would incentivise the working woman to have another child.
"We've no problem finding money for these refugees and all of that; could we not divert that money towards the Irish?"
Cllr McDonnell said "we're in danger here of being bred out in a few years" with "all our young are leaving here and they're having kids in Australia".
He denied his stance is anti-migrant and that "we love having people here from all around the world".
@newstalkfmA newly-elected Kildare councillor has defended his remarks about Irish women needing to ‘breed’ more.
'Women are so undervalued'
Cllr McDonnell said women told him during the election campaign they would have more children if they could afford it.
"I speak to them, I was on the doors, and they said to me, 'We can't afford to have children'," he said.
"I said, 'If you got a tax break would you have another child?' and they said, 'Of course we would'"
Cllr McDonnell said women are the foundation of the State and should be treated better.
"Women are so undervalued in this country by our Government it's unbelievable," he said.
"Only for the women of Ireland there'd be no Irish people here."
'Stepping stone to the Dáil'
When it was put to him that local government cannot change tax legislation, Cllr McDonnell said he intends to run as a TD.
"The election last night is only a stepping stone to the Dáil," he said.
"I'll have loads of manifestos that will incentivise the great women of Ireland".
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