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<\/p>\nA majority of people on the island of Ireland would vote for Irish unity as part of the EU, according to a poll.<\/p>\n
An EU sentiment poll indicates that 73% in Northern Ireland would vote for the UK to rejoin the EU, while more than 70% of people both north and south believe the EU should become more independent from the US.<\/p>\n
The poll also indicates a continued decline in satisfaction with the direction of the EU since 2023, with issues such as migration and cost of living cited as concerns.<\/p>\n
European Movement Ireland\u2019s Island of Ireland EU Poll 2026, conducted by Amarach Research, found that support for Ireland remaining a member of the EU is at 82% in Ireland and 76% in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
The online survey was carried out among 1,200 adults in both jurisdictions between March 26 and 31 2026. The margin of error is plus or minus 2.2%.<\/p>\n
The poll indicated that if a referendum were held tomorrow on a united Ireland in the EU, 59% in Ireland would vote in favour and 22% against, with 63% voting in favour in Northern Ireland and 29% against.<\/p>\n
Almost three-quarters of respondents in Northern Ireland said that if the UK held a referendum tomorrow on rejoining the EU, they would vote in favour (73%), with 23% stating they would vote against.<\/p>\n
The poll also indicates that 71% south of the border believe the EU should seek greater independence from the United States, with the figure jumping to 79% in Northern Ireland.<\/p>\n
Almost half of Irish respondents said Ireland should take part in increased EU defence and security co-operation (48%), with 32% saying no and 20% stating they were unsure.<\/p>\n
There appeared to be a decline in satisfaction with the direction of the EU from 58% in 2023 to 45% in 2026.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The top issues flagged with those who are dissatisfied were migration (31%), economic and regulatory issues (27%), and federalism and national sovereignty (26%).<\/p>\n
Those who believe the EU is moving in the right direction cited unity and co-operation (33%), economic benefits (25%) and stability and security (19%) as their reasons.<\/p>\n
In Northern Ireland, 46% expressed satisfaction with the direction of the EU, and 36% expressed dissatisfaction.<\/p>\n
The top three reasons for dissatisfaction were economic and regulatory issues (36%), federalism and national sovereignty (26%) and immigration control (19%), with unity and co-operation (50%), economic benefits (25%) and defence (18%) listed as the top reasons for satisfaction with the EU.<\/p>\n
Trade is listed in both jurisdictions as the issue where the EU performs its strongest, and migration as its weakest point.<\/p>\n
Asked what were their top five concerns at EU level, Irish citizens said cost of living (58%), migration (48%), housing (41%), energy (36%) and defence and security (36%).<\/p>\n
In Northern Ireland, the five main concerns were the cost of living (45%), migration (42%), the EU\u2019s response to the Middle East conflict (41%), defence and security (40%) and energy (37%).<\/p>\n
A plurality of respondents in Ireland (37%) said they do not trust either the Irish Government or the EU, with 36% stating they trust the Irish Government and 27% stating they trust the EU.<\/p>\n
Asked which institution they trusted the most, 28% of respondents in Northern Ireland said the EU, 20% said the Irish Government, 8% said the UK Government and 5% said the Executive, with 38% stating they trusted \u201cnone of the above\u201d.<\/p>\n
Asked where they get their information on EU issues, 65% in Ireland said newspapers, radio and TV; 51% said the traditional media\u2019s online offering; and 33% said social media; while in Northern Ireland, 68% said the traditional media\u2019s online offering; 62% said newspapers, radio and TV and 39% said social media.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
Chief executive of European Movement Ireland David Geary said that while there was \u201cstrongly pro-European\u201d sentiment in Ireland and Northern Ireland, in Ireland there were \u201careas of disconnect emerging\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said that Ireland \u201ccan\u2019t be complacent\u201d as it prepares to take on the six-month EU Council presidency term in July.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe highest level support for the EU is amongst the 18 to 34 and 55-plus age cohort, but really evenly split between men and women, which is good to see,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some areas of disconnect that are emerging, only 45% of people believe the EU is moving in the right direction. That\u2019s obviously something that needs to be focused on,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe question that we ask on a regular basis is \u2018upholding core values\u2019. Now, 50% say that it is which is really good, but 33% say no, and 17% say they don\u2019t know. So that\u2019s effectively split between people who do believe it\u2019s standing up for its core values and it isn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe would see the presidency as a key opportunity for a reinvigorated national conversation on our place in the EU.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that the responses in favour of Irish unity were higher in this poll compared to others due to the \u201cEU framing\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was higher \u2018don\u2019t knows\u2019 in the south, 19% compared to 8% in Northern Ireland, and higher support than other unity polling, which is likely due to the EU framing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there is a clear appeal of EU membership.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said that the EU element of Irish reunification was just one dimension, and that areas such as health, education, and justice would also require consideration.<\/p>\n
He also said that the high number stating that Northern Ireland should have a greater say in EU decision-making (73%) was significant, adding: \u201c62% of \u2018Leave\u2019 voters support more representation, despite opposition to rejoining.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cI think it\u2019s really welcome that the Irish Government plans to include Northern Ireland in the presidency, I think that\u2019s a really positive step in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A majority of people on the island of Ireland would vote for Irish unity as part of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":434155,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2244,5148,61,60,36198,43,123055],"class_list":["post-434154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-eu","tag-european-union","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-irish-unity","tag-news","tag-united-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=434154"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/434154\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/434155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=434154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=434154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=434154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}