Voters in the Republic are the least supportive, along with their Swedish counterparts, of greater co-operation between European Union states on defence and security issues.
In the latest Eurobarometer poll, just 58 per cent of Irish voters favoured the creation of a common defence and security policy, compared to an average of 77 per cent among the 25 EU member states.
Twenty three per cent of Irish voters are against the idea, while 19 per cent had no opinion.
However, the desire for closer EU co-ordination is greater among the 10 new member states, with 85 per cent in favour.
The European constitution, which has been badly, and probably fatally, damaged by referendum defeats in France and the Netherlands, proposes that the EU should be "capable of fully assuming its responsibilities within the international community".
Under a policy known as "permanent structured co-operation", EU states would have the right under the constitution to co-operate on defence equipment purchases and to provide joint combat units for peacekeeping and conflict prevention measures.
Ireland is also among the most Eurosceptical member states on the question of whether the EU should create a common foreign policy.
Sixty-one per cent of Irish voters favour the idea, compared to an EU average of 67 per cent.
The United Kingdom is even more opposed to the idea - just 44 per cent of voters favour it.
Despite Irish voters' responses to such questions, Irish attitudes are among the most positive on the EU, with 75 per cent believing membership to be "a good thing".
Luxembourg and the Netherlands - despite the latter's rejection of the EU constitution - are the only countries to be more favourable in their attitudes.
However, just 38 per cent of the UK public share that opinion.
The new member states are still coming to terms with the rules of the new club.
"Citizens of the new member states have more difficulties in assessing their membership, and the level of 'neutral' answers is still particularly high in these countries, notably Latvia (43 per cent), the Czech Republic (39 per cent) and Cyprus (40 per cent)," the Eurobarometer pollsters said yesterday.
However, 55 per cent of the EU's population believe their countries have benefited from membership, the highest level recorded since 1994.
In Ireland 87 per cent believe the country has benefited, compared with 6 per cent who believe it has not; and 7 per cent who do not have an opinion.
"It is interesting to note that in the two countries which in their recently held referenda voted against the constitution, the assessment of EU membership is clearly positive in France (53 per cent) and above all in the Netherlands (67 per cent)," the pollsters said.
Ireland again led the table when asked if "in general whether the EU conjures up a very positive, fairly positive, neutral, fairly negative or negative image".
Sixty-eight per cent of Irish people polled answered positively, compared with an EU average of 47 per cent and a result of just 28 per cent in the United Kingdom.
The EU still has a positive image in a number of countries trying to gain membership: Romania, Turkey and Bulgaria, with scores of 66 per cent, 61 per cent and 60 per cent respectively.
However, the public in Croatia, which is trying to get on to the list of prospective entrants, is much more doubtful, with 38 per cent having a positive image of the union, compared with 33 per cent who have a negative opinion. Meanwhile, confidence in the European Commission, led by Portuguese former prime minister José Manuel Barroso, has dropped significantly during the first half of the year, down 6 per cent.
Just 46 per cent of the EU public polled expressed confidence in it, while the number claiming to lack confidence is now at its highest level since 1999, at 31 per cent. Although the majority of those polled, 52 per cent, had confidence in the European Parliament, the number has fallen by five points since the last elections.
