Irish birthrate slumps 22% in a decade

The main reason for drop in fertility rate is education and contraception. Its happening in Japan and Korea, any country that becomes developed. I guarantee you the population in Afghanistan will sky rocket with the Taliban traditions.

And more recently we have had abortion legalised in this country, so perhaps thats a reason for the most latest decline.

"The Straights"? Strange to label roughly 95% of the population in such a manner.

You wouldn't like it if everyone referred to you as "The Gays" I presume.

Sounds good. You drop down to a 2nd world living standard first and the rest of us will follow on.

Lead by example.👍

That's actually a good point when thinking of the costs of childcare. The poster said €2,500 a month for 2 kids, which works out at €6.25 an hour per child (assuming 20 days in the month, and in creche for 10 hours a day). And the creche has to pay rent, insurance, wages and overheads from that. A dog walker charges €10-€15 per dog walk.

I thought you were joking about the whole climate change thing in your earlier post tbh 😬

Say you have 2 kids, should you have another kid or save those lives ?

It’s not really an either/or question though, because people can do both - they can have however many children they want, and they can contribute to charities and organisations working to alleviate poverty in developing countries. I had always planned on having six children, stuck in my head for some reason, but when I met my wife she told me I could fcuk off with that idea 😂 As it happened, we have one child. It doesn’t follow that I’m saving the planet by not having the other five children I had originally intended to have.

I don’t mind acknowledging that I have no interest whatsoever in saving the planet, my interest is in ensuring that my child does not have to live like they’re just existing in a developing country, which is what would be required if the idea was to consume as little of the earths resources as they do in developing countries, producing as little pollution as they do in developing countries, compared to developed, industrialised countries.

Data Centres are just one example of enormous amounts of energy consumed with equally enormous amounts of CO2 emissions produced -

They go well beyond any individual attempts to address climate change like switching to an overpriced toy car (like a Tesla) or buying what is being marketed as an environmentally friendly phone that’s a heap of shyte, for the same price as a second-hand flagship phone -

The Fairphones are priced in the middle of the range of mobile phone prices; for example, the Fairphone 4 in 2022 was priced from €579.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairphone

Buying a second-hand flagship phone means people can still afford to contribute financially to charities and organisations saving lives and addressing poverty and lack of education in developing countries, and they can still afford to have children and to enjoy life rather than simply existing until they expire, as the only way our species would go extinct is if we got a mad notion into our heads that everyone needs to stop reproducing in order to save the planet.

At 5:1 they (the creche) get €31/HR based on the hours quoted above per staff member. Many creches really don't bother with under 1's because it can't work financially for them

But as I said the 5:1 ratio for toddlers has come about as a result of regulation, a response to a failing. Failures in Ireland are always responded to with regulation which makes things more expensive.

Oh and I should add, that if parents want a private childminder in the home, they have to deal with the childminders taxes, have payroll and payslips and employers prsi ( the childminder themselves isn't expected to do this themselves, like for any other service). It's absolutely bonkers what's required of parents these days by our State. You're not required to pay a plumbers taxes for them...

Wow really? I never thought of that.

Theyre not the only costs of a creche. If it was such a bonanza there would be many more creches across the country, and not as many people leaving the industry. A local one to me recently closed and is now a coffee shop, easier to run and better profits available.

If a parent isn't willing to pay €6.25 an hour to have their child minded then they need to suck it up and mind the child themselves, rather than moaning about the cost of childcare.

I or we have three children. All grown up now & it wasn't cheap!

They never went without & were all loved.

All three went on to Third Level which again wasn't cheap but would I

prefer to have the cash or the kids? A no contest but my children.

I worked in a factory with an average wage but my wife earned a little more.

Our priority was our children & their futures. Anyone who decides NOT to

have children do not know what they are missing out on!