Getting to the heart of the matter

MORE Irish women are single than ever before. Statistics show that the number of women aged between 25 and 44 living alone here has soared.

The average age for a woman to wed has reached an all-time high of 31.7 and the average age of giving birth is 31.5, among the highest in Europe.

So why have Ireland’s 20-something women given up on men and marriage? “It’s hard to know exactly why, but I think career probably has a part to play,” says psychosexual therapist Marie Daly of Relationships Ireland.