THERE HAS BEEN an increase in levels of enjoyment and a fall in the levels of boredom in the Irish population, but there has also been a sharp increase in the number of people who think Ireland is moving “too quick” in its latest pandemic response, according to the latest Amárach Research public opinion survey on behalf of the Department of Health.

The survey gauging the Irish public’s attitudes towards Covid-19, restrictions and vaccines was carried out on Monday – two days after almost all restrictions had been lifted on businesses, and the requirement for Covid passes and mask-wearing to eat and drink indoors was removed. 

Of the 1,600 people polled, the number of people reporting that Ireland is trying to return to normal “too quickly” jumped from 28% on 17 January to 49% on 24 January.

But the number of people who reported feeling ‘enjoyment’ for a lot of the previous day had risen from 44% three weeks ago to 58%.

This is the highest level since the pandemic began, and has only reached that peak once before in September-October, just before the Omicron wave reached Ireland.

The number of people reporting feeling boredom also reached a low of 15% as of last Monday (the grey line in the graph below).

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Speaking to The Journal’s The Explainer podcast this week, Pete Lunn, head of the ESRI’s Behavioural Research Unit said that there had been a “mixed response” to the sudden reopening. 

“The good news is that people’s overall level of worry about the pandemic has fallen, and it’s come back down to the levels it was at around August-September last year, not quite, but almost back to those levels. And that’s the lowest it’s been the whole pandemic.

“So we’re not at the lowest level of worry ever, so that idea hasn’t lodged in people’s minds that this is somehow over and there’s nothing left to worry about, but it is back down to the lowest levels that it had been at previously.

“So that’s really good news: the average level of worry has fallen.”

Amárach Research Amárach Research

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When asked how people feel about the worst of the pandemic, 66% say the worst of it is “behind us”, while 9% say it’s “happening now” and 9% say it’s “ahead of us”.

On the question of whether people think there should be more restrictions, 58% of people said no, down from 65% the previous week, and 31% said yes, up from 23% the previous week.

Lunn added that for a substantial section of the population, there is “clearly anxiety” associated with this level of reopening also.

“So we’ve seen a jump in proportion of people who say they want more restrictions again. That’s up to 31% or almost a third of the population who, when asked directly ‘Should there be fewer restrictions or not?’ say ‘Yes, actually there should’.

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The Explainer: Why is Ireland reopening now - and how do people feel about it?

“So there’s about a third of the population who are really uncomfortable about that decision.”

Amárach Research Amárach Research

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One of the questions that Lunn and his team have been monitoring is ‘Are we trying to return at the right speed to normal?’ measured with three options.

“There’s been a big jump in the proportion of the population that think we’re trying to return to normal ‘too quickly’ – it’s up to 49%,” Lunn said.

“So almost half the population actually thinks we’re trying to go too fast here.

“And of course, it’s possible that they haven’t fully absorbed the change in the science and the numbers, which has happened rapidly and was what drove the Taoiseach’s decision.

“So it may be that they’ll come around, but the initial response to the announcement is more mixed than the media coverage to date will give you reason to believe.”

Listen to The Explainer’s full interview with Pete Lunn below – we also spoke to Christine Loscher, professor of immunology at DCU, for more on what we can expect from Ireland’s almost-complete reopening. You can also find the episode here or wherever you get your podcasts.
https://soundcloud.com/the-explainer-podcast/why-is-ireland-reopening-now-and-how-do-people-feel-about-it

With reporting from Nicky Ryan.