Poll finds positive reaction to Ireland from Germany

A newspaper poll says Germany is much more favourably disposed to Ireland compared to Europe's other bailout countries.

The Irish Times Ipsos MRBI telephone survey was carried out in Germany and Ireland earlier this month.

Conducted against the backdrop of the ongoing euro crisis, The Irish Times poll finds a broadly positive attitude to Ireland from those it questioned in Germany.

Only 3% believe Ireland should leave the EU compared to 42% for Greece.

Most believe Irish people work longer hours than Germans.

Just over half of the German respondents believe their country is doing too much in the current euro crisis, only 6% say it's not doing enough.

46% believe Ireland is trying hard to sort out its economic problems but 23% think we could be doing more.

However we came out better than the other bailout countries as only 13% of Germans surveyed believe Greece is trying hard to fix its economy and that figure only rises to 32% for Portugal and 31% for Spain.