Almost half of all first births in the Dublin region are to single parents, Mr Gay Mitchell (FG, Dublin South Central) said.
He was responding to the Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach, Mr Seamus Brennan, who revealed that in the period January to September last year, 41,161 births were registered in the State. "Of these, 11,439, or 27.8 per cent, were to unmarried mothers. The corresponding figures for the previous year were 52,311 births, of which 13,892, or 26.6 per cent, were to unmarried mothers."
Mr Mitchell said: "Does the Minister of State agree that approximately 49 per cent of all first births in the Dublin region are outside wedlock? Does he agree that there is a substantial number of single-parent homes where there are three and four children? In many cases a de facto father is present, but the system of social supports is designed in such a way that there is a disincentive."
He asked if the figures were affected by the fact that many fathers and husbands were not declaring themselves.
Mr Brennan said that in 1980 first-order births - the mother's first baby - accounted for about 84 per cent of births outside marriage. This proportion had fallen steadily since then and was 62 per cent in 1997, which meant that 38 per cent of births outside marriage that year were to women who already had at least one child.