British expats in Ireland quickest to blame London for Brexit woe

Survey of attidues across EU finds few blame Irish Government for UK’s impasse with EU

British expats living in Ireland are quicker to blame their fellow Brits for the difficulties posed by the Brexit decision than expats living elsewhere, a study suggests.

A survey of attitudes among the British expat communities finds 27 per cent in Ireland blame the British counterparts for the ongoing Brexit woes, compared to just 16 per cent of expats in other countries. Only 4 per cent of British expats in Ireland hold the Irish Government responsible.

The YouGov survey, commissioned by online currency platform CurrencyFair, finds that 48 per cent of British expats in Ireland expect their personal economic situation to worsen in the next 12 months, compared to just 34 per cent of expats surveyed in other EU countries. Some 40 per cent say they have reduced their personal spending due to Brexit

The survey finds 43 per cent say they will brace for a recession in a hard Brexit scenario with those in Ireland most likely to expect this.

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Despite the pessimism, 65 per cent of British expats living in Ireland say they would choose to live in Ireland compared to all other countries in the EU.

Almost two in five (39 per cent) say they left the UK for Ireland to improve their quality of life and a third of respondents living in Ireland were seeking citizenship or permanent residency in another country due to Brexit

Expats are less favourable towards leaving the EU without a deal (16 per cent), especially expats residing in Ireland, where only 5 per cent are in favour of this option.

The survey was conducted with an online sample of 664 adults between April 18th April and May 2nd last.

Patrick Smyth

Patrick Smyth

Patrick Smyth is former Europe editor of The Irish Times