Irish attitudes were becoming slowly, but steadily more negative towards the European Union for nearly two years before last May's Lisbon Treaty referendum, according to the latest Eurobarometer poll released this morning.
The poll, taken in October, showed a dramatic collapse - even then - in confidence in the economy, though people had a more positive attitude towards their own prospects than they had for the country as a whole.
"That may have changed now," said Professor Richard Sinnott. Eighty four per cent of those polled in Ireland described the Irish economic situation as "bad" - a 64 per cent collapse since autumn 2007 and the biggest decline in national confidence of any of the 27 EU member states.
And the Irish are also the pessimistic about the future, with forty two per cent more of people believing that the situation is going to get worse. Despite all this, however, 88 per cent of the Irish still say that they are happy with the life that they lead - coming sixth highest out of the 27.
Despite rejecting Lisbon, Ireland still remains one of the pro-EU countries in the Union, but support is slipping, down 14 points between late 2006 and late 2008.
"There has been a gradual decline between autumn 2006 and autumn 2008," said Prof. Sinnott today, when he gave a briefing on the figures at the European Commission's office in Dublin.
Majority support among Irish respondents still exists for the development of an EU common foreign policy with 56 per cent saying they would favour such a development.
But support has dropped for the idea of a common EU defence and security policy - an issue seized upon by anti-Lisbon campaigners last year - with 48 per cent of those surveyed saying that they would favour such a proposal, down 12 points since spring 2008.
"While the Irish have never showed much support for the idea of a two-speed Europe, support for such a development is particularly low with just 26 per cent of respondents saying they would be in favour. This may be a reflection of the current global economic crisis and some fall out from the Lisbon Treaty Referendum last year," said Prof Sinnott.
