Irish couples are not having kids because they feel they cannot afford them.

That’s the view of broadcaster Wendy Grace who feels the decline in Ireland’s birth rate is a consequence of squeezed family finances. 

In 2022, Ireland’s total period fertility rate - or birthrate - was 1.7.

The figure is significantly below the 2.1 society needs to maintain a stable population without immigration and well below historic levels. 

“I do think the economic factor is the biggest one,” Ms Grace told Newstalk Breakfast.  

“Also, women tend to have children later; we’re being sold a bit of a pup there, to be honest. 

“One of the great things is that women have entered the workforce, we can do whatever we want but I don’t think the workforce has changed enough to adapt to the fact that we are part of it and we have babies. 

“I think some women are consciously or subconsciously encouraged to hold off or delay.” 

A baby boy walking on bridge. Image: dpVUE .images / Alamy

Ms Grace feels people put far too much pressure on themselves to have their perfect lives before they have children and simply end up putting conception off until it is too late. 

“The saddest thing for me to hear from friends is, ‘I’d love another baby but I can’t afford it,’” she said.  

“That’s because we have to have the second car, we have to have the holidays, they have to be in the best clothes - all these sort of demands we’re placing on ourselves.” 

Between 2012 and 2022, Ireland’s birth rate dropped by 20% according to the CSO. 

One year that bucked the trend was 2021 - which was the first time the birth rate rose in 12 years. 

It is a phenomenon Ms Grace feels has its roots in the pandemic. 

“It kind of made me think, was that because it was a time when people had more time on their hands?” she said.

"I know, anecdotally, lots of stories from a fertility perspective [of] women who had had trouble conceiving that when they stopped and slowed down, all of a sudden it happened for them.”

Vive la France?

Whatever the roots of the decline, Ms Grace feels the State needs to think long-term and implement policies to reverse the trend.

France has a long history of encouraging families to have more children and Ms Grace thinks Ireland should consider adopting some of their ideas. 

“There’s things like, for every child you have, you get a lower interest rate on your mortgage,” she said. 

“There’s a lot of low [cost] and free childcare; all these practical things have an impact and I think we need to be looking at that from the perspective of giving families more choice to begin or have more children. 

“Purely, from a demographic perspective, it’s something that there needs to be a lot more forward thinking on.” 

Even if Ireland’s population is declining, the world’s population is growing and last year hit eight billion for the first time.

Main image: A breastfeeding mother.