ONE THIRD OF Irish people believe Ireland should leave the EU if the UK does, according to a poll of Irish attitudes towards the European Union.
One quarter of respondents also said they believed Ireland should leave the Euro.
However 85 per cent of respondents say that Ireland should remain with the EU and 83 per cent of Irish adults say Ireland has benefited from its membership of the EU.
The Red C poll was commissioned by not-for-profit organisation European Movement Ireland to examine Irish people’s attitudes towards Ireland’s presidency of the Council of the European Union.
Respondents were split when it came to describing their identity: 47 per cent of respondents said they saw themselves as Irish only while 45 per cent said they would describe themselves as both Irish and European. Just 6 per cent of people said they saw themselves as European only.
Two thirds of people were aware of Ireland’s presidency of the EU, although just half of 18-24 year olds knew about the six-month presidency which began on 1 January.
The poll was carried out between 7 and 9 January and surveyed 1,0003 people by phone.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has said that Britain would be ‘rocking the boat’ if they left the EU, noting that while its membership is “very much a British matter, we [Ireland] have an interest in it”.
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