After years of overlapping crises, Irish people have \u201crun out of shock\u201d and are \u201cemotionally checking out\u201d, according to the latest Sign of the Times survey published by Ipsos B&A.<\/p>\n
The war in Iran<\/a> and accompanying fuel price hikes are just the latest big world events to affect the lives of ordinary people, and 74 per cent of adults now expect the global economy to worsen over the next year. That is up 10 percentage points on the proportion of respondents who said the same two years ago. <\/p>\n Instead of panicking, the public has accepted chaos is no longer temporary and they are increasingly choosing to tune out, the researchers said. Once-shocking headlines \u2013 a pandemic, an energy crisis<\/a>, geopolitical chaos \u2013 have begun to feel routine.<\/p>\n Focus-group research, which was conducted in the weeks before the United States and Israel began their air campaign against Iran, found there has been a significant shift away from \u201ccautious optimism\u201d, where people pushed through in the hope of light at the end of the next few months. This has made way for a form of \u201cresigned resilience\u201d that geopolitical and financial turbulence is here to stay.<\/p>\n Luke Reaper, chief executive of Ipsos<\/a> B&A Ireland, says the Irish are a \u201cpretty battle-hardened bunch\u201d after a succession of crises.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you think about the Irish population, over the last number of years we have gone through a financial crisis and come out of that. We have gone through a pandemic, an energy crisis, cost-of-living crisis, and there has then been upheaval across the world.\u201d<\/p>\n People are realising the chaos in the world \u201cis not going to end any time soon, that they are in it for the long haul\u201d, says Reaper. \u201cWith these overlapping crises they have literally run out of shock.\u201d<\/p>\n This mindset is interesting, he says. \u201cIt is not that they are apathetic … They are emotionally checking out a bit because this is quite draining. They are looking for a bit of light relief and they are trying to block a bit of bad news.\u201d<\/p>\n [\u00a0Unthinkable: Depressed by the news? Be a \u2018happy warrior\u2019 – and other tips to raise hopeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n In focus groups, participants described creating \u201cbubbles of normalcy\u201d around their kitchen tables, with one saying: \u201cWe just don\u2019t talk about all that awful stuff happening out there … instead we talk about our holidays, good food, we laugh.\u201d <\/p>\n The researchers said conversations have shifted to the \u201ctangible and controllable\u201d, with participants mentioning an unspoken family agreement of \u201cnot here, not now\u201d when it comes to distressing geopolitical events.<\/p>\n But although optimistic distraction is a technique used by many of the focus-group participants, one in five of people surveyed last February said they were struggling to get by, rising to one in four among blue-collar workers. <\/p>\n Researchers said there was a countercultural movement growing towards slowing down and being intentional about consumption<\/p>\n Nearly a third of the 1,042 respondents said they could not afford to pay an unexpected but necessary expense of \u20ac1,000. This is similar to the number who answered this way in 2022, but a split trend has emerged between blue-collar workers and managerial\/professional classes. <\/p>\n More blue-collar workers felt unable to pay such an expense two years ago (41 per cent) than did in February (one in three). The proportion of managerial\/professional workers unable to meet a \u20ac1,000 rainy-day cost rose from 23 per cent in 2022 to 28 per cent this year.<\/p>\n Reaper says people have their usual coping mechanisms for inflation and financial pressures, such as turning to own-brand goods and cutting out big-ticket items. It is important to remember certain cohorts of people are \u201cunder pressure\u201d, and if things get \u201cworse and worse\u201d people will become more stressed, he says.<\/p>\n A separate consumer survey of some 1,000 individuals last month found inflation and the cost of living were by far the most pressing issues in people\u2019s minds, with 60 per cent of respondents mentioning these to surveyors. This is up from 54 per cent who raised these issues in February, before the Iran conflict. <\/p>\n Housing<\/a>, the next most common worry, was mentioned by 40 per cent of respondents, while healthcare and immigration control were worries for a third and a quarter of people respectively.<\/p>\n Just five months ago, military conflicts between nations were not on the minds of many, with only 5 per cent of people mentioning war as a concern. But this year, global unrest is causing more concern, with 16 per cent worried about it in January and nearly a quarter (24 per cent) concerned by March, in a clear sign the Iranian conflict was seeping into the public consciousness. <\/p>\n Just over a third of people aged 16 and above surveyed in February said Ireland should prioritise developing a strong alliance with the US. This is far below the three-quarters of respondents who favoured focusing on developing Ireland\u2019s relationship with the EU.<\/p>\n More than half (57 per cent) wanted a strong allegiance with the UK, while 38 per cent wanted to align strongly with Canada, whose prime minister, Mark Carney, has urged building a \u201cnew order\u201d amid a \u201crupture\u201d to rules-based geopolitics caused by a lack of constraints on the main powers. China was viewed as a key Irish ally by a quarter of respondents. <\/p>\n The Ipsos B&A focus-group research found people held significant emotional disappointment with the US. Still, their moral dismay was tempered by economic pragmatism and knowing Ireland\u2019s economy is deeply tied to US multinationals.<\/p>\n