Calls for a “full-scale promotion of marriage” in the Republic of Ireland come as analysis reveals a long-term fall in the popularity of the institution.
A new paper from the Iona Institute ‘On the Wrong Course: Birth, Marriage and Family Trends in Ireland’ found that the marriage rate fell from 5.2 per thousand adults in 2004, to 3.8 in 2024. In 2023, the EU average was 4.0.
Eamon Martin, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Armagh, said a decline in the number of marriages should be of concern to all, and hailed marriage as good for children, good for couples, and good for society.
‘Normal milestone’
Breda O’Brien from The Iona Institute said: “The fact that our marriage rate and fertility rate are now at the lowest levels ever recorded ought to ring alarm bells.
“Getting married and having children used to be very normal milestones in life that almost everyone could be expected to reach if they wanted. But now it seems they are going out of reach for many”.
Breda continued: “An Amarach poll commissioned by The Iona Institute in 2022 showed that the average person still wants two or three children, and clearly this aspiration is not being achieved by a lot of people considering a fertility rate of 1.5 and falling”.
She concluded: “As a society, we seriously need to debate what is happening and what can be done to change our course”.
Lifelong commitment
Archbishop Martin said: “It’s true that fewer people are getting married in the church, but it’s also true that fewer people are getting married full stop, and that is a worry.”
He explained that marriage should be encouraged, “because even marriages which are not happening in the church, are a sign of people who are declaring to each other, ‘I love you. I want to be faithful to you. I want to have a family with you. I want to be committed to you.’ And that’s good.”
The Primate added: “The fact that young people don’t feel they want to make a lifelong commitment to each other, the fact that a lot of young people feel forced by economics or by culture to keep putting off getting married and starting a family, that is a concern for the State and for the Church.
“I really feel a full-scale promotion of marriage would benefit this country.”
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