Faith in economy among lowest in EU

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, large majorities 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 the Government has fallen to an all-time low, at just 20 per cent. In contrast, trust in various European institutions is stable at about the 50 per cent mark. 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 spring 2007 and the latest survey in summer 2009.

Some 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 percentage points since last autumn.

People are more sanguine when asked about their personal financial circumstances.

Some 61 per cent of Irish people described their household financial situation as good, just below the EU average.

Meanwhile, the proportion of people who believe things will get worse economically has fallen 22 percentage points since autumn 2008. Some 17 per cent of people are now saying that things will get better, while 47 per cent say they will get worse.

Two-thirds of respondents say they feel more economically stable because of Ireland’s membership of the euro zone, 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.

‘‘Overall, there is no evidence to support the view that Irish people’s long-standing positive attitudes to integration are being undermined or reversed by people’s negative reactions to the national economic crisis,” commented Prof Richard Sinnott of the UCD Geary Institute in an analysis of the figures.

People are more likely to be negative towards the EU if they are unemployed or, to a lesser extent, female or lower-middle class.

Just over 1,000 people were interviewed for the research.