Is it time to legislate to protect the family?

THE OECD report has made it clear that having children has adverse consequences for your financial well-being.

A glimpse through the report illustrates as societies become wealthier the birth rate decreases.

In European society, the birth rate is now lower than the replacement rate though our standard of living continues to increase.

It may be reasonable to suggest that in the current socio-economic system that exists throughout the developed world, children are considered a liability and put workers at a competitive disadvantage in the jobs market.

They are expensive in terms of time and money and having children damages your career prospects. This applies to both the male and female guardians of children.

We must ask how long this can continue for? Europe is experiencing a shortage of young workers to support the standard of living we have become accustomed to.

As a result, we are outsourcing increasingly complex operations to developing countries with a surplus of labour and we are recruiting vast numbers of migrant workers from these same poor countries to supplement operations at home.

When we penalise European families financially for having children we are constraining the future supply of indigenous labour required to sustain the standard of living we enjoy.

We will become increasingly reliant on the goodwill of migrant workers and developing countries to produce goods and services for our consumption.

Legislation exists which prevents employers from discriminating against people of a certain race, religion or sexual orientation.

Has the time come to introduce legislation to protect and promote the concept of the family?

Thomas P O’Brien

Dungannon

Co Tyrone