Although the Catholic Church has warned against recognising unmarried unions, it is one of the fastest growing family units, writes Carl O'Brien
They go by different labels. The Catholic Church calls them "other forms of relationships". The Law Reform Commission calls them "co-habitees". And the Government still seems to be making up its mind on how to refer to the one of the fastest growing family units in the country.
Figures show there has been a dramatic rise in the number of co-habiting couples in the last six years, according to the 2002 census. In total there were 77,600 co-habiting couples in 2002, up from 31,300 in 1996, an increase of more than 40 per cent.
Overall they accounted for 8.4 per cent of all family units in 2002, compared with 3.9 per cent in 1996. Figures also show a 125 per cent rise in the number of same sex couples over the last six years, up from 150 to 1,300. Two-thirds of these were male couples.
In response to the dramatic growth of the constituency, the Law Reform Commission last week made eight recommendations aimed at improving the right to inheritance, social welfare and healthcare for such couples.
It also proposed that these measures should apply to same-sex couples, as the State does not currently recognise these relationships. The commission, however, stopped short of recommending official State recognition of co-habiting status through a partnership registration scheme, which is being proposed in Britain.
However, the Catholic primate, Archbishop Seán Brady, this week warned of the damage that such recognition would represent for the traditional identity of marriage.
While the growth in the number of co-habiting couples has been dramatic, statistics show we are only catching up with European averages.
"The incidence of co-habitation is still very low," says Prof Tony Fahey, a sociologist with the ESRI.
"It's something that is very common in Scandinavia, for example, and less so in southern Europe. There is a sort of north-south gradient there."
The rise in co-habiting couples appears to have been driven by a range of factors, including changing social norms, attitudes towards the church and also economic factors.
"There was a time when the tax system was geared towards the tradition of the father working and the mother staying at home," says Ms Finola Kennedy, author of Cottage to Creche: Family Change in Ireland. "Now with a number of developments such as individualisation, that economic factor is largely gone."
Also, the traditional notion of marriage itself appears to be changing, given the legalisation of divorce. Societal developments, such as the rapid rise in the number of lone parent families in the last 20 years, have also changed perceptions of family units.
Census figures show that the marriage rate has been declining over the last two decades, while the number of separated or divorced people has increased by over a half between 1996 and 2000.
The Government is now considering the changes proposed by the Law Reform Commission, although the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, said last week he had no specific legislative changes in mind at present.
Whatever happens, policy-makers will doubtless bear in mind that, politically, co-habitees are also a significant constituency, representing some 155,300 adults. Some two-thirds of these co-habiting couples have children, 51,700. Co-habiting couples also tend to represent a younger age profile than married couples, with over half of women and 40 per cent of men in cohabiting relationships in their 20s.
