SUPPORT FOR membership of the European Union has been undermined by events leading up to the provision of €85 billion in financial support for the State. A perceived loss of sovereignty was the most potent reason for this shift in attitude, according to the latest Irish Times/IpsosMRBI opinion poll.
In spite of a 10-point drop in support for the EU, since May of 2009, a solid 69 per cent of those questioned believed that membership remains in our best interests during the current crisis. Slippage in support was most evident among low-income workers and those on social welfare, where the percentage of respondents opposed to membership more than doubled, to 22 per cent. Opposition within a resurgent Sinn Féin rose from 22 to 53 per cent.
In a vein of reluctant acceptance, more than half of those questioned welcomed the €85 billion in financial support provided by the EU-IMF, even as they recognised that the terms of the funding entailed a loss of sovereignty. Approval for the bailout was most pronounced among Fianna Fáil supporters and high-income earners.
With a general election in the offing, there was bad news for the Government on the budgetary front. More than two-thirds of the electorate took the view that measures taken to reduce the deficit by €6 billion were unfair. This perception existed across all age and income groups but was most pronounced among those on low incomes. A worrying finding for the Opposition parties was that only 38 per cent of those questioned believe an alternative Fine Gael/Labour Party government would have done any better.
This lack of confidence in the fairness of the Government’s remedial measures and in the political system generally has been a recurring theme. Three out of five voters believed the economic situation would have been “about the same” had Fine Gael and the Labour Party been in power. The absence of an agreed budgetary approach between the main Opposition parties may have contributed to this. Asked to choose between Fine Gael’s proposal to have a 75/25 split between spending cuts and taxes in correcting the budgetary imbalance and the Labour Party’s 50/50 ratio, 42 per cent of voters opted for the higher tax take compared to 29 per cent for greater spending cuts. Fine Gael supporters divided evenly on the issue. Such an obvious point of contention may create difficulties and is likely to be seized upon by Fianna Fáil as the general election approaches.