EU:Irish people strongly support the EU but feel their voice does not count when it comes to decision-making, the latest Eurobarometer survey shows.
Support for EU membership in Ireland is at 74 per cent, a drop of two percentage points in six months. Luxembourg and The Netherlands are the only EU states more pro-European than Ireland, with 82 per cent and 79 per cent of citizens respectively saying EU membership is "a good thing".
Support is lowest in Britain, where just 34 per cent of citizens support the union.
The high approval ratings for the union in the Republic are matched by a strong realisation that the EU has been good for Ireland. Some 87 per cent of citizens say Ireland has benefited from membership, the highest recorded score across all 27 member states in the union.
But despite this positive view, only a quarter of Irish people feel their voice counts in the union. Six out of 10 people say they do not feel their opinions matter when the EU takes decisions. In contrast, 58 per cent of Danes say they feel their voice counts, while just 16 per cent of Bulgarians feel the same.
Minister of State for European Affairs Dick Roche said this area needed to be attended to before the referendum on the Lisbon Treaty.
"We need to address these concerns during the referendum campaign and explain to people that the treaty will give national parliaments more of a say in the EU and, for the first time, introduce citizens' initiatives that will enable their voices to be heard directly."
Yet the survey shows Irish citizens still trust the EU much more than domestic politicians, with 57 per cent of people saying they distrust the Government. In comparison, just 23 per cent of people say they distrust the EU, while 55 per cent say they trust the union.
The survey, which interviewed 30,000 citizens in 31 European countries, also identified increasing fears over the future of the Irish economy.
Some 39 per cent of people say they think employment conditions will be worse in 12 months' time compared to just 16 per cent who think they will improve.
Overall, Irish citizens see crime as the most important issue facing the country, rather than the economy. Healthcare and inflation are also seen as key challenges, the survey shows.