A QUARTER OF Irish voters did not feel informed enough about the European Parliament to comfortably cast a ballot in the European elections in June, according to a new study.

The research, conducted by Red C and the European Parliament’s Liaison Office in Ireland, aimed to find out what was the leading cause for voters not showing up on polling day.

Just over half of the country voted in the European elections on 7 June, despite polling by The Journal suggested that, around, 80% of voters had the intention to cast a ballot in June. 

Even with the, albeit, small increase of 1%, Ireland still ranked below the EU average. However, a third of non-voters wanted to vote but could not due to work or personal reasons – meaning around 80% did intend to vote.

Meanwhile, 9% of non-voters were abroad on polling day.

Voter apathy in the European elections has been a long-standing trend and this year’s election was no different for many reasons – including a disinterest in the European Parliament and feeling as though their vote would not matter.

For some time, Ireland’s voter turnout has also been well under the EU average for every election. Gary Murphy, a professor of politics at Dublin City University, told The Candidate podcast in May that he did not believe voters were engaged with the election.

He added that the campaign had been “dull”, suggesting that it could’ve been because there were, at times, too many important issues to discuss. Murphy agreed that a discussion needed to take place on voter apathy before the General Election.

“There’s been all sorts of suggestions put forward, such as lowering the voting age to 16 – though I have my doubts about to what extent that would transform or energise the electorate,” he said.

The campaign train may have been particularly dull for a small few, as 2% of non-voters told the study they did not vote as they were not aware the election was taking place. 

Despite a high approval rating for the European Union in Ireland, 16% of non-voters said they did not feel that they understood enough about the European Parliament to cast a vote while 15% said there were no interested in it.

Another 15% of non-voters said they did not know enough about any of the 74 candidates standing in the election while 11% believed none of the candidates represented their political views.

So, what did motivate voters?

Before the election and after the election, Ireland’s national interests were the main motivators for voters to get out and cast a ballot. 

However around 3 in 10 people voted because of agriculture and rural Ireland supports, foreign policy issues, workers’ rights and climate action. Unsurprisingly, what motivated young people the most was climate action but foreign policy issues were also a main driver.

A total of 46% of voters between 18 and 24 years old said support for countries like Ukraine and the Israel-Palestine conflict was main motivator for them to vote.

By as early as February, previous polling by The Journal had reflected that the Israel-Palestine conflict would be a main motivator for younger voters after 75% of them had had their view of the EU negatively impacted since the 7 October attack on Israel.

When asked to rank the EU’s performance on the Israel-Gaza conflict, the bloc scored a 1.8 out of 5 with the young voters.

Though 60% of voters said Ireland’s national interests motivated them to vote, there was a slight increase in the number of voters who believed that MEPs should make decisions on the basis of what’s best for the EU itself after the election.

This could suggest that while voters gave preferences to those who they believed best represented the country, some voters’ opinion of the role of a MEPs may have changed as polling day approached .

Speaking on The Explainer podcast in June European Movement Ireland’s CEO Noelle O’Connell said Irish MEPs will usually work together with European colleagues but “they will don the Green jersey on the big-ticket items”.

“It’s important that the MEPs who we elect represent the diversity and the plurality of political perspectives and views in Ireland but they must be very visible in Midlands-North West, Ireland South or Dublin,” she said.

“They must marry the constituency with what they are doing in Brussels and at the committee rooms,” O’Connell added.

Despite the increase, the majority of people (65%) still believe that Irish MEPs should vote in favour of what would be in the best interest of Ireland, even if it means they disagree with European colleagues.

Additionally, more people believe that Irish MEPs should vote in favour of what would be in the best interest of their constituency rather than the rest of the Union.