Irish still look for love among same age, class and nationality

SOCIETY may have changed dramatically in recent decades but when it comes to relationships, Irish people still look for love among those of the same social class, education, nationality, religion and age as themselves.

And even though cohabiting has increased enormously in the last 15 years, it survives only up to the point where children come on the scene, when marriage takes over as the preference for committed couples.

The evidence that Ireland is still largely a nation of traditionalists in relation to matters of the heart comes in the Economic and Social Research Institute’s latest report, Households and Family Structures, which analysed over four million records from the 2006 census.