Ireland still loves the EU, and no wonder, surveys reveal

Jun 24, 2008, 13:18 GMT

Brussels - Irish citizens still overwhelmingly approve of their country's membership of the European Union, despite shooting down its Lisbon Treaty 10 days ago, an EU poll revealed Tuesday.

And figures released the same day by the EU's statistical office revealed that the Emerald Isle remains the most spectacular economic success story in EU history - a fact which most commentators see as thanks in part to membership of the bloc.

According to a regular poll carried out by EU pollster Eurobarometer, 73 per cent of Irish citizens think that Ireland's EU membership is a good thing, the second-highest result in the bloc after the Netherlands (75 per cent).

And 65 per cent of Irish citizens have a positive image of the bloc - again the second-highest figure in the EU, this time after newcomer Romania (67 per cent).

The EU-wide survey was carried out from March to May, six weeks before Irish voters shook the EU by rejecting the Lisbon Treaty, which was supposed to make the bloc more effective and high-profile, amidst fears over Ireland's neutrality and tax and abortion laws.

It confirms a long-running trend of Irish support for the EU which is in part explained by figures released by Eurostat on Tuesday.

According to the figures, Ireland in 2007 had the second-highest gross domestic product (GDP) per capita in Europe - almost one and a half times the EU's average.

That is a massive change from the position in 1997, when Ireland actually lay marginally below the EU's economic average, being just the tenth richest of 15 member states.

No other EU country has recorded such a sustained period of growth, and commentators say that EU membership is partly to thank.

However, they also point out that Ireland has attracted business with its liberal tax regime and record of good labour relations - explaining why the tax question, in particular, proved so sensitive in the Lisbon referendum.