Worryingly high levels of ignorance in Republic on euro: poll

With only months to go before the launch in January of the single currency, support levels throughout the EU have risen to their highest since soundings on the issue began in 1993. But the most recent Eurobarometer poll, published yesterday, shows worryingly high levels of ignorance in the Republic about the euro.

While 60 per cent of EU-wide respondents favour the launch of the euro compared to 50 per cent in the autumn of last year, the poll shows that opposition to the single currency has also fallen below 30 per cent.

The trends in the survey, which was conducted in the spring of this year, are confirmed by snap polls conducted in recent weeks by the European Commission, a spokeswoman for Eurobarometer said. Critically, for the first time, support for the euro is now more than 50 per cent in Germany (51 per cent), Austria (56 per cent) and Finland (53 per cent), while two out of three people in the 11 countries participating in the launch favour it.

In the Republic, with 68 per cent in favour, a small swing of 1 per cent to those in favour is recorded since the autumn, while those opposed declined by four percentage points to 14 per cent. Italy (83 per cent) is still top of the list of those favouring the euro, while Denmark and Britain (both 34 per cent) are the least enthusiastic.

The Irish figures reflect below-average levels of awareness of the single currency. Only one in two believe it is 90100 per cent certain the Republic will join from day one (48 per cent), or that the starting group has already been decided (54 per cent). Only 54 per cent of Irish respondents knew the name of the euro while respondents in eight countries scored more than 80 per cent on the same question.

And there has been a decline since the autumn in the numbers who feel well informed about the issue from 22 to 17 per cent. Only one in five in the Republic, the second worst in the Union (average 53 per cent), say they have been given any information about the euro. But the Republic remains the state most convinced of the benefits of the EU, with four out of five saying the Union is a good thing and 85 per cent that the State benefits from membership.