ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a cohort change in fertility behavior among women in Dublin, Ireland. The Republic of Ireland has long been a notable exception to the Western European pattern of low fertility. Since the Catholic Church considers the use of contraceptives sinful, most people in Ireland believe contraception is immoral. The effect was fairly ready access to contraceptives in Dublin, good to poor access in other Irish cities, but virtually no access to contraceptives in rural Ireland where nearly two-thirds of the country's population lives. The transition to contraception use and lower marital fertility in Ireland is probably taking place in spite of, not because of, Irish mass education. The pattern of decreasing fertility has become so pervasive that even traditionally high fertility countries such as Italy are approximating the reproductive patterns of the rest of the continent, and some countries have even begun to think of reversing that trend through policy change.
