Carol Nolan warns of ageing population and anti-family culture
Carol Nolan warned that demographics point toward a predominantly older population and falling birth rates, which she said will strain healthcare and the nursing home sector. She argued Irish society is becoming an anti-child and anti-family culture, noted about 10,000 abortions per year on average, and said families are finding it increasingly difficult to survive and thrive.
She said the demographic shift is visible across the Western world and in dramatic form in parts of Asia, with population replacement levels collapsing and a move toward a predominantly older population.
She warned this ageing trend will present enormous challenges for the healthcare system, highlighting an overburdened nursing home sector and rising closures among private operators driven by unsustainable cost conditions.
She described a deeper, more fundamental challenge - that society is becoming anti-child and anti-family. She cited the figure of about 10,000 abortions per year on average and said it is increasingly difficult for families to survive and thrive.
She said she has repeatedly raised concerns since 2021 with the Minister for Finance about tax individualisation, arguing it may be discriminatory in practice because it penalises one-income married couples by making them pay more tax than two-income married couples.
Demographic trends
She said the demographic shift is visible across the Western world and in dramatic form in parts of Asia, with population replacement levels collapsing and a move toward a predominantly older population.
Pressure on healthcare and nursing homes
She warned this ageing trend will present enormous challenges for the healthcare system, highlighting an overburdened nursing home sector and rising closures among private operators driven by unsustainable cost conditions.
Cultural and family concerns
She described a deeper, more fundamental challenge - that society is becoming anti-child and anti-family. She cited the figure of about 10,000 abortions per year on average and said it is increasingly difficult for families to survive and thrive.
Tax policy and one-income couples
She said she has repeatedly raised concerns since 2021 with the Minister for Finance about tax individualisation, arguing it may be discriminatory in practice because it penalises one-income married couples by making them pay more tax than two-income married couples.
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Transcript
Minister, the demographics are all pointing one way, and that is towards a predominantly older population and decreasing birth rates. It is a phenomenon that we are witnessing right across the Western world, and indeed in dramatic forms in Asia and China, where population replacement levels are collapsing. Clearly, this is going to present enormous challenges to our own healthcare system, particularly in the context of an already overburdened nursing home sector, where closures over the last number of years have been rising dramatically under cost conditions that are simply unsustainable for many private operators. But there is also a deeper, more fundamental challenge to us all, and that is that in many ways we are becoming an anti-child and anti-family culture. We are now living in a society where 10,000 abortions per year on average take place. We are also living in a society where it is becoming increasingly difficult for families to survive and thrive. Since 2021, I have repeatedly raised this issue with the Minister for Finance in the context of tax individualisation, which I believe may be discriminatory in practice, as it penalises one income married couples by making it necessary for them to pay more tax than two income married couples.