Irish people among EU’s most enthusiastic fans
Their enthusiasm for all things European is matched, however, by a lack of any
real knowledge of how the institutions work and no real interest in finding out.
And when it came to being proud to be Irish, only the Greeks were more proud. Well over two-thirds of Irish people questioned said they were very proud to be Irish.
Even the chauvinistic French could only muster two-fifths with a sense of national pride and the figure was just one-fifth among the Germans and Dutch.
The Euro barometer survey, carried out for the EU by Lansdowne Research in March and April this year, described the findings as puzzling. Our citizens trust EU institutions more than the Dáil and other national institutions, but know far more about national politics than those at EU level.
While they favoured the EU’s common defence and security policy, they were absolutely against handing over a say on defence issues to the Union.
They had similar reservations when it came to policies dealing with refugees and, to a lesser extent,
immigration.
Another Irish idiosyncrasy was while we approve of the EU, we are not necessarily enthusiastic supporters of it.
Improving Irish people’s knowledge of the EU will be an uphill task, according to the report, because so many say they never look for such information or are not interested in it.
The European Parliament, the Commission, the Court of Justice, the European Ombudsman and the Council of Ministers are well trusted, but this faith is not backed up by any knowledge of the institutions or of what they do.
The Irish go even further, trusting these institutions more than the Dáil, the Government and the political parties. Citizens in several other EU countries feel the same.
Finally, little more than a half of those surveyed said they saw themselves as
having a European identity, with the others identifying themselves as Irish only.
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