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‘The whole immigration thing is a mess’: Irish voters on Government performance

Public were asked about Government’s performance in latest Snapshot poll. Here is what they said

A woman drops her vote into the ballot box during the vote on the European Union's fiscal treaty referendum at a Polling Station in Dublin, Ireland, on Thursday, May 31, 2012. The Irish vote on the European Union's latest treaty today, with polls indicating they will endorse measures designed to ease the euro region's debt crisis. Photographer: Aidan Crawley/Bloomberg
'Right direction – environment is doing good, slow on housing but they are tackling it.' Photographer: Aidan Crawley/Bloomberg
Pat Leahy's picture
Pat Leahy
Mon Jul 29 2024 - 00:01

We asked voters about the Government’s performance in the latest monthly Snapshot poll by Ipsos for The Irish Times.

The research seeks to gauge what voters are noticing about what the Government is doing and whether that pushes the Republic, generally, in the right or wrong direction.

Here is a selection of what they said in their own words:

  • Right direction – environment is doing good, slow on housing but they are tackling it.
  • Carbon emissions going down, country going in right direction.
  • I feel like there’s a lot of nonsense about ‘carbon zero’: Ireland can’t make a difference on its own, we need the big countries like USA and China to do so. There’s far more important topics for our Government to handle instead of focusing on this.
  • They are wasting so much money on bicycle paths that aren’t going to be used.
  • I don’t object to the asylum seekers but they are putting too much funding into it. Wasting money. Wrong direction.
  • The green policy – wrong direction. Not thinking things through.
  • The recycling of bottles is making the country go in the wrong direction and the whole immigration thing is a mess. I’m not too [far] from Thornton Hall, where they want to put in 1,000 men in a tented village beside a primary school. Health and housing is also very bad.
  • Increased pedestrianisation – closing off certain roads around the city – right direction.
  • Wrong direction: cost of living, housing crisis, our homeless people are homeless. Charity begins at home, we have to look after our own homeless. The Government have done cuts and they are not looking after the people, they are lying when they say the country is improving.
  • Inflation very much there and Government doing nothing. Wrong direction.
  • Both work hard – struggle with money – no savings. Creche bills, high tax, neighbours not working, live better in branded clothing. Seven years in country, cost of living increased by three but not wages.
  • It’s definitely immigration: I’d say the Gov are getting it wrong, not listening to the people on this matter. I feel that the Gov will probably stay in the same direction going forward, which will be bad for working-class people like myself, but not for the elites.
  • The country is going in the wrong direction, the Government are destroying our faith and culture by replacing our own people with indigenous people, mainly men, this together with bringing in abortion/same-sex marriage is not good.
  • The housing crisis is going in the wrong direction, it’s hard to see who can resolve that issue.
  • I don’t think the Government know how to solve the housing problem. By introducing a rent control, this will cause a negative effect and stop people from building houses, which is what we need.
  • Shortage of housing. The housing crisis is not improving, I think they are getting a handle on the migration issue.
  • The Government are talking constantly about making housing more affordable, as of yet we have seen no real evidence of this. Allowances are being given to different groups all of the time but never the working class.
  • The housing crisis, I am struggling to move out of my parents’ home. The cost of living makes it impossible for young people who wish to own their own home.
  • Doctors and GPs huge problem. Waiting lists for schools and creche and high rents.
  • Everyone between the 18 and 26 can get free contraception – right direction.
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