IRISH PEOPLE ARE  among the most pessimistic in the European Union about the economy, the EU, the government – and, well, a lot of things relating to politics and economics.

Just 24 per cent of Irish people say that they have trust in the EU – a drop of a huge 20 per cent from earlier this year. The figure is also far below the EU-wide average of 34 per cent.

Irish people are also among the most pessimistic in Europe when it comes to the national economy: A mere 3 per cent of people think that the Irish economy is ‘good’, with 96 per cent saying it’s ‘bad’.

Ireland comes second only to Greece on this score, where just 1 per cent of people think their economy is ‘good’ and 99 per cent say that it’s ‘bad’.

Trust in the Irish government has also dropped by 20 per cent, down to just 22 per cent. This is close to the EU-wide average of 24 per cent.

1,015 Irish people were interviewed by Ipsos MRBI for the Autumn 2011 Eurobarometer study, which was conducted throughout EU countries.

Some of the other findings include:

• 53 per cent of people were optimistic about the future of the EU – a drop of 15 per cent since last spring.
• 24 per cent were positive about future enlargement of the EU, compared to an EU average of 36 per cent.
• A slight majority of respondents think that the economic situation of their household is ‘good’ – up 4 per cent since this time last year
• 29 per cent of people think the jobs crisis has reached its peak. 65 per cent think the worst is still to come.
• Irish people see the government as being the most effective actor in tackling the effects of the economic crisis, with 24 per cent opting for it over the EU (22 per cent)
• 92 per cent of Irish people think a tax on bank profits would be effective, compared to an EU average of 81 per cent
• 53 per cent were in favour of a tax on financial transactions compared to an EU average of 64 per cent.
• 78 per cent of Irish people were for a European economic and monetary union with a single currency – far above the EU average of 53 per cent.

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