MARRIAGE AND birth rates in the Republic soared during the economic boom, according to a report published yesterday.
The Families in Ireland report compiled by researchers from University College Dublin for the Department of Social and Family Affairs points to a 40 per cent increase in marriages from 1995 to 2006.
It also notes a 46 per cent rise in births over the period, from 48,255 in 1994 to 70,620 in 2007, despite the increased costs of housing and childcare.
The percentage of births outside marriage stood at 33.2 per cent in 2006 while the average age of mothers giving birth outside marriage has increased from 22.2 years in 1980 to 27.1 years in 2006.
Prof Tony Fahey, professor of social policy and head of the school of applied social science at UCD, said the increase in births in recent years suggested the state of the economy and the labour market may have a bigger impact on childbearing than the level of government support.
He added that while the three-child family had become rare in parts of Europe, it was still quite common in Ireland.
The surge in marriages over the past decade has been partly driven by the growth in numbers of people in the 20 to 40-year age bracket, he said, but also partly by the rise in propensity to marry.
There has also been a sharp rise in the age at which people marry over the period, with marriages before the age of 30 years declining and marriages after the age of 30 rising.
Overall Prof Fahey said there had been a rise in the number of couples over the past decade, with the increase in marriage numbers accompanied by a boom in the number of people who were living together. There has been a fourfold rise in cohabitation between 1996 and 2006, the report said.
Meanwhile the report shows the incidence of marital breakdown, which has increased considerably since the 1980s, is still relatively low by international standards.
Prof Fahey pointed out that official statistics indicate there had been no rush to divorce among already separated couples since divorce was legalised in 1996.
The introduction of divorce had not had any detectable effect on underlying trends in marital breakdown, with the steady growth in marital breakdown as great before 1996 as afterwards.
The breakdown rate appeared to have levelled off in recent years, said Prof Fahey.
Separating couples aren't just turning to divorce, the report indicates - other legal remedies, such as custody applications to the District Court, are increasing.
There has also been a decline in the number of domestic violence-related applications to the court, such as barring orders among spouses - from 4,873 orders in 1995 to 3,329 in 2006.
The publication also highlights the higher risk of poverty among lone parent families and those two parent families with more than four children. Family sizes in general though are now smaller. The number of children living in four-child households has fallen by 59 per cent from 196,304 in 1981 to 81,384 in 2006.
The number of lone parent families in the State rose by 30,000 between 2002 and 2006 and today, more than one in five families with children aged under 15 years are headed by a lone parent.
Minister for Social and Family Affairs Mary Hanafin said the report challenged many common myths, such as that marriage had gone out of fashion and been replaced by cohabitation. The report draws together recent data from sources including the census, rather than from new research.
FAMILIES IN IRELAND: TRENDS & PATTERNS
There has been a 40% increase in marriages between 1995 and 2006.
Average age at marriage jumped four years between 1991 and 2005, rising to 33.1 years for men and 31 years for women - late ages of marriage not seen since the 1940s.
There has been a four-fold rise in cohabitation between 1996 and 2006. There were 121,800 cohabiting couples in 2006.
There has been a surge in child-bearing during the economic boom with births up from 48,255 in 1994 to 70,620 in 2007, the equivalent of a 46% increase.
There has been a 77% rise in one-child households from 118,041 in 1981 to 209,402 in 2006.
At the same time there has been a 59% fall in four-child households from 196,304 to 81,384 over the same period.
Between 1986 and 2006, the total number of people in the State whose marriages had broken down increased five-fold from 40,000 in 1986 to just under 200,000 in 2006. Some 36,000 of those recorded in 2006 were foreign nationals.
The number of lone-parent families have increased by almost 30,000 between 2002 and 2006.
Almost 12% of all families with children now consist of cohabiting couples with children.