60% believe worst is still to come for our economic fortunes

IRISH people are not feeling positive about the economic future although the outlook here is not as gloomy as in Greece or Portugal, according to a new survey.

The Eurobarometer on Economic Sentiment polled 31,769 people across Europe in May and found 60% of Irish people believe the worst is yet to come in terms of the economic downturn. That is a decrease of 12% compared with the previous survey, while the 30% who believe the impact of the crisis on jobs has reached its peak is an increase of 10%.

The figures still show Irish sentiment is skewed towards the negative when compared with sentiment in many other European countries, but not quite to the extent of those in Portugal and Greece. In the latter, 78% of those polled believe the worst is still to come, while in Portugal the corresponding figure is 80%.

There is also widespread uncertainty in Ireland over who is best placed to try and resolve the economic crisis.

The poll shows that 20% of those polled do not know, while 26% believe it is the job of the EU, 21% believe it is the responsibility of the Government, and 9% believe responsibility lies with the United States.

When asked for the top three ways to resolve the current crisis, more than half the Irish people surveyed wanted to improve education and professional training, in marked contrast to the 8% who favour an increase in working hours and the 6% who want to increase the age of retirement.

Some 40% want it to be made easier for companies to access credit, while 24% want greater investment in research and innovation. In addition, 37% of those polled want it to be easier to set up a business and 33% want to reduce public deficits and debt.

A majority of Irish people also believe that a more important role for the EU in regulating financial services would be effective in dealing with the crisis, likewise with a closer supervision by the EU of the activities of large financial groups or the most important international financial groups. There is also some support for a stronger coordination of economic policy among all the EU member states and closer supervision by the EU when public money is used to rescue financial institutions.

There is also widespread support here for the introduction of a tax on profits made by banks and wage regulation in the financial sector but less support for the introduction of a tax on financial transactions. Opinion was also split on whether the EU had acted effectively in dealing with the crisis, although 70% believed the Government had not acted effectively in its response. In general 43% of Europeans think that the crisis’s impact on the job market has already reached its peak, a slight increase compared to the last survey in autumn 2010, while nearly eight out of 10 Europeans think stronger coordination of economic policy among EU member states would be effective in tackling the economic situation.

Viviane Reding, vice-president of the European Commission, said the survey results showed the majority of people believed the EU was “now going in the right direction”.