Irish people’s confidence in the economy is among the lowest in Europe but there are signs the public believes the recession is bottoming out, according to the latest Eurobarometer survey.
Worries about the economic crisis have had only a marginal effect on attitudes to European integration, the survey shows.
Although minority negative sentiment about the EU is growing, a large majority of Irish people continue to say membership of the Union has been good for this country, and ascribe a positive image to the EU.
The survey also shows that Irish people’s trust in their government has fallen to an all-time low, at just 20 per cent. In contrast, trust in various European institutions is higher, at about the 50 per cent mark, and largely stable. Research was carried out in late June, just after the Government parties received a drubbing in local and European elections.
Once again, the survey, which is carried out twice a year, shows that Irish people are among the most contented in Europe. Some 88 per cent of Irish people declared themselves satisfied with their lives, the eighth highest figure of the 27 countries surveyed.
Confidence in the state of the economy plunged by 83 percentage points between early 2007 and this summer. Just 6 per cent of Irish people evaluated their economy positively, the third lowest figure in the EU, the survey shows.
By contrast, economic confidence across Europe, which was lower than in Ireland to start with, has fallen less than 30 points since last autumn. For example, in Denmark, a country of similar size to Ireland, 69 per cent of people think the economic situation is good.
People are more sanguine when asked about their personal financial circumstances as opposed to those of the country. Some 61 per cent of Irish people positively evaluated their household financial situation, just below the EU average.
However, the proportion of people who believe things will get worse economically has fallen 22 percentage points since autumn 2008.
Two-thirds of respondents say they feel more economically stable because of Ireland’s membership of the euro, and majorities also believe Ireland’s vote counts in the EU. However, support for a common foreign policy, and a common defence and security policy, in the EU is falling. In addition, just 40 per cent of people say they understand how the EU works.
“Overall, there is no evidence to support the view that Irish people’s longstanding positive attitudes to integration are being undermined or reversed by people’s negative reactions to the national economic crisis,” commented Professor Richard Sinnott of the UCD Geary Institute in an analysis of the figures. “People seem quite capable of distinguishing between their negative assessment of the domestic situation and their largely positive attitudes to Europe and capable of expressing their views accordingly.”