Yahoo Finance Irish support for EU hits record level amid Brexit talks
Irish enthusiasm for the EU has reached record levels amid Brexit wrangling, new research shows.
Support for the union among Irish voters has grown steadily since the Brexit vote, but the country’s central role in recent negotiations has triggered a dramatic swing behind Brussels.
No less than 92% of voters now say they want Ireland to remain part of the EU, according to an independent poll published today by European Movement Ireland (EMI).
That’s an increase of 16% over the last year and by 32% since voters were first asked in 2013.
Just 7% of Irish citizens want to leave the EU – down by 4% since last year and by 11% since 2013.
European Parliament Brexit coordinator Guy Verhofstadt said the “remarkable” results suggested that “the Brexit domino effect predicted by Nigel Farage and others has foundered.”
Mr Farage visited Dublin in February to speak at a conference organised by UKIP’s European Parliament group to promote “Irexit.”
“I don’t think Ireland is a pro-EU country,” he said at the time, citing the unpopularity of austerity measures demanded by the EU, IMF and ECB in exchange for a bailout after the financial crisis.
Irish voters have been asked every year since 2013 whether the country should leave the EU if the UK did so.
As many as 29% of Irish voters answered yes in 2013, but support for that proposition was at 11% in today’s poll.
EMI director Noelle O’Connell said the results reflected “understandable uncertainty about what changes Brexit will bring to Ireland.”
How to avoid a hard border in Ireland if the UK leaves the EU’s customs union is the biggest outstanding issue in Brexit negotiations and the impasse over the issue could yet trigger a cliff edge exit by the UK.
The majority of Irish voters (73%) want the issue to be resolved by the UK remaining in the customs union and single market – that figure rises to 83% among farmers.
While Ireland appears united over its future in the EU, the poll reveals the country is divided over another constitutional question.
Asked whether Brexit makes the prospect of a united Ireland more likely, the same percentage of people (44%) agreed and disagreed. Some 12% were undecided.
Men and young voters were most likely to think Brexit will bring about a united Ireland.
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