The reaction of Irish rugby coach Andy Farrell to criticism of his team’s performance last weekend is worth pondering for its implications which go far wider than sport. “I think people need to ask themselves, really, sometimes, ‘Are we Irish?’ Do we want people to do well or not?”
Ireland had just beaten Italy in a ferociously fought contest but much of the commentary focused on the weak aspects of the Irish performance. Considering that Italy had beaten Scotland and the Scots went on to thrash England, why was it assumed we could stroll past Italy?
Farrell’s remark has a relevance to the negative narrative on almost every aspect of Irish life that dominates so much commentary, which has been infected by the vile standards of social media.
Fortunately, the public is not as deluded about the state of the country – or the merits of the Irish rugby team for that matter – as so many of the critics who go out of their way to accentuate the negative and downplay the positive.
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A Eurobarometer poll, carried out in November 2025 across the 27 member states and published last week, provides a very different insight into the public mood on the state of the nation and the wider world. The key finding is that Irish people are far more optimistic about the future, whether it is of themselves and families, their country, the EU and the wider world than people living in other EU states.
Some of the figures are quite startling. Asked if they were optimistic about the future of their families and themselves, 88 per cent of Irish people said yes, compared to an EU average of 76 per cent. There was an even wider divergence on the future of their country, with 82 per cent of Irish people being positive against an EU average of 57 per cent.
As for the future of the EU, 77 per cent of Irish people were positive compared to an average of 57 per cent. When it came to the world in general, Irish optimism sagged a bit but it was still well ahead of other European countries.
Maybe the Irish public’s view is too rosy but it shows that most people want to look at the world in a positive way. The message from the survey to our political leaders is to do their job and not to get bogged down trying to appease the doom-mongers.
What is required is a firm focus on policies aimed at promoting the common good rather than the constant appeasing of vocal interest groups. Clear political leadership rather than fearful tip-toeing around opposition would be a help.
[ Irish people most optimistic about future of EU, survey findsOpens in new window ]
This applies to the Government’s approach to international issues as well as domestic ones. Across the EU, there is a strong desire among citizens for the bloc to up its game in facing global challenges and strengthen the EU’s position in the world. Irish people are even more concerned than citizens of other countries to see this happen.
Given the support for greater EU co-ordination across a range of issues from trade and finance to defence and security, the message for the Government is to get involved in shaping the bloc’s response instead of dragging its feet to try to slow things down as is so often the case.
It will take time to repair the damage the Irish stance on Mercosur has done to the country’s credibility at EU level. The foolishness of opposing a deal that has the potential to be of huge benefit to this country, as well as the wider bloc, has promoted an image of fecklessness which will be hard to shake off.
One way of recovering some ground would be to fully embrace the drive to make the EU more competitive. The commitment given by Micheál Martin to move ahead with the proposed savings and investment union, despite previous Irish opposition to the move, is the first step towards recovering some credibility after the Mercosur debacle.
On this and other issues, the bigger states are seriously talking about moving to a two-speed Europe in order to avoid being held back on a range of issues by countries like Hungary and Slovakia who are effectively in the Putin camp. If Ireland wants to retain its image as being at the heart of the EU, it will need to up its game.
This also applies to defence, where we have become a laughing stock. With the battlefield in Ukraine showing the increasing importance of drone warfare, there is an opportunity for this country to make a serious investment in the technology required to monitor the vast ocean area which comprises our waters.
It is in the nature of politics that any action taken by the government of the day will inevitably provoke vocal opposition. The critical factor is how they deal with it. Our current leaders need to take a leaf out of Enda Kenny’s book when he took over as taoiseach at the height of the financial crisis.
His government took some unpopular decisions, but it was Kenny’s unremitting message of optimism that was the key element in restoring the country’s fortunes. A similar approach from our current leaders would be a help.
