The number of men seeking vasectomies has increased by 20pc in a year at a busy Dublin clinic.

“We are flat out with all the patients who were cancelled in March, April and May and new applications are up 20pc,” said Dr John O’Keeffe of Morehampton Clinic in Donnybrook.

While most men undergoing the procedure have two or three children, Dr O’Keeffe conducts vasectomies on about a dozen men each year who have no children.

These men are typically well-educated and in their mid-30s, often professionals, academics, or working in the tech sector, who are either not in a relationship or who have decided with their partner that they do not wish to have children, he said.

Dr O’Keeffe said the average age of his patients rose from 34 in 1988 to 38 and six months in 2018. His oldest vasectomy patient was 72.