The findings of a new survey in Ireland are likely to disappoint British Brexiteers. A majority (92%) of the Irish population now supports staying in the European Union. Only 7% supports a theoretical “Irexit” and 1% is undecided.
The findings of the survey, which was conducted by pollsters Red C, suggest the experience of the Brexit process has further strengthened pro-EU sentiment in Ireland.
As reported by The Independent, though the country has long been overwhelmingly pro-EU, as recently as 2013, when Ireland faced deep austerity cuts, only 81% the country supported remaining.
At the start of Brexit negotiations in 2017, the figure supporting remain was 88%, according to a comparable poll by the same firm.
This year’s poll, however, shows that support is now over 90% in most age groups, with only those aged between 45 and 64 just below average at 88%.
Among those aged 18-24 a full 97% support EU membership, the highest figure of any cohort, while Dubliners are 96% in favour.
“People are very clear that leaving the EU would not be in Ireland’s interests,” Noelle O’Connell, executive director of European Movement Ireland, which commissioned the poll, was quoted as saying. “However, there is understandable uncertainty about what changes Brexit will bring to Ireland, the border and the Ireland-UK trade relationship in the long-term”.
Last summer, Nigel Farage called on Ireland to leave the EU. “Maybe the best thing for Ireland given that she’s stuck in the wrong currency, given that nearly all of her overseas business is denominated in dollars or sterling, maybe the Irish should leave the EU and then we could then work out our own terms between us,” he said on his LBC radio show.
