A new poll has shown that almost half of Irish respondents feel that their views aren’t represented at the level of the European Union, while 34 percent feel the EU is not upholding its core values and 26 percent are dissatisfied with its direction.
Despite this, support for Ireland’s membership of the EU remains high at 82 percent. However, that figure represents the lowest level of support in over a decade (since 2013).
Just nine percent said Ireland shouldn’t remain a member of the EU, while eight percent said they didn’t know.
The new data comes from European Movement Ireland’s (EMI) EU poll 2025, carried out by Amárach research.
It found that 43 percent of respondents felt their views weren’t “adequately represented at EU level,” a sentiment felt most strongly by respondents aged 35-44.
Almost half (47 percent) of respondents in both the Republic and Northern Ireland said that they think the EU is “moving in the right direction”.
For those who answered “yes” to that question, 41 percent said that they think the EU is moving in the right direction because of “unity and cooperation,” followed by “economic benefits” at 19 percent.
Positive respondents in Northern Ireland agreed that “unity and cooperation” (43 percent) was the main reason they think the EU is moving in the right direction, followed by “defence and protection” at 17 percent.
For those who said that the EU is moving in the wrong direction, 35 percent of respondents said that it was because of “immigration control issues”. Other stated concerns included “economic and regulatory issues” (24 percent) and “militarisation concerns” (24 percent).
On the topic of defence, 50 percent of people surveyed said that Ireland should be part of increased EU defence and security cooperation. Meanwhile, 32 percent said that no, Ireland should not be part of increased EU defence and security cooperation. A further 18 percent of respondents said that they didn’t know.
When it came to EU performance, 51 percent of respondents said that they felt the EU’s performance was weakest on migration, with 18 percent saying it was weakest on defence and security, while 10 percent said it was poor on climate change.
On their concerns, 56 percent said “cost of living” was the issue they were most concerned about “at EU level”. Migration came a close second with 53 percent highlighting it, followed by EU-US relations (44 percent) and the EU response to the Russia-Ukraine conflict (43 percent).
For respondents in Northern Ireland, the EU response to international conflicts featured at the top of respondents concerns, with 52 percent highlighting the EU response to the Israel-Palestine conflict and 49 percent identifying the response to the Russia-Ukraine conflict as the issues they were most concerned about at an EU level.
These were followed by migration, security and defence and EU-US relations.
In both the Republic and Northern Ireland, trade was where respondents felt the EU’s performance is strongest, at 40 percent and 49 percent respectively.
In ROI, this was followed by the economy (21 percent), while “don’t know” was the second highest response (13 percent) for respondents in Northern Ireland.
In the North a “significant majority” (60 percent) believe that changes in the EU-UK relationship following Brexit have not improved Northern Ireland’s relationship with the EU, only 29 percent agree, while 11 percent remain unsure.
A majority in both the Republic (40 percent) and Northern Ireland (39 percent) said they do not trust governing institutions, with only 30 percent in the Republic expressing trust in the EU and the Irish Government.
The EU is the most trusted institution in Northern Ireland at 29 percent, followed by the Irish Government at 19 percent.
Despite that, 34 percent of respondents in the Republic and 39 percent of respondents in the North said that they don’t think the EU is “effectively upholding its core values in its policies and actions”.
Commenting on the poll’s findings, Noelle O’Connell, CEO European Movement Ireland said: “It is encouraging to see strong support for EU membership in Ireland, albeit a decline on recent years. In our twelfth year of polling, it is clear that we cannot be complacent, with some people expressing dissatisfaction with the EU’s current trajectory and Irish influence at EU level.
“At a pivotal time in European politics with intensifying efforts to end the war in Ukraine, the ongoing issues relating to EU-US trade which could have serious implications for Ireland, and the increasing influence of populism, among other issues, it is important citizens feel their views are heard across all levels of the EU.”