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.

It found that while one in three families departs from the traditional model of a married couple where both partners are in their first marriage, the majority of couples still marry eventually, especially when they have children, even when they have a previous failed marriage.

People do not go far outside the familiar when finding a partner either, as 93% marry or cohabit with another Irish person, 94% of Catholics choose another Catholic, and the average age gap between couples is just 2.3 years.

Between half and two-thirds of couples are of the same social class, measured by occupation, although among younger couples, women are more likely to be a high flyer than their partner. Similarly, younger women are more likely to have a higher educational attainment.

Report authors Dr Pete Lunn and Professor Tony Fahey said that while the traditional make-up of couples reinforced socio-economic divides and inequalities, the newer trends among younger couples raised issues too.

“The growing number of younger couples in which the woman has the higher qualifications and/or occupational classification means that for many younger couples it is the woman who has higher earning power,” they said.

“This fundamentally changes the financial consequences of decisions to balance work and family following childbirth... suggesting that policymakers should consider ways to increase the flexibility of working arrangements for parents.”

The researchers also questioned whether the country’s 120,000 cohabiting couples understood the 2010 Civil Partnership Act 2010 or realised that long-term cohabitation now amounted to a contract with legal and financial implications.