One in four people believe there will be United Ireland in next 10 years - poll

James Cox

One in four people in the Republic believe there will be a united Ireland within the next ten years, according to a new poll published on Monday.

A survey conducted by Amárach research for the European Movement, found half of those surveyed in the North believe a united Ireland will happen by 2033.

It also found support for Ireland's continued membership of the EU stands at 88 per cent, one of the highest approval ratings in the European Union.

Worth noting in light of the Government’s Consultative Forum on International Security Policy, 49 per cent of respondents in the Republic believe that Ireland should be part of increased EU defence and security co-operation, a drop of 10 points from last year.

Those aged 55+ in are most likely to be in favour of increased participation.

Three in five people in Ireland (58 per cent) and Northern Ireland (58 per cent) think the EU is moving in the right direction when compared to the wrong direction. In Northern Ireland the wrong direction is at 28 per cent, vs 15 per cent for Ireland.

Only one in 10 in both Ireland (9 per cent) and Northern Ireland (14 per cent) believe that Northern Ireland is doing better since Brexit. Two-thirds (66 per cent) in Northern Ireland believe it is doing worse, compared to half (51 per cent) in Ireland.

Commenting on the findings, Noelle O'Connell, CEO of European Movement Ireland said: “This is our tenth year producing an annual opinion poll on EU issues and the first time we have included Northern Ireland in the findings. Since Brexit, the relationship between people in Northern Ireland and the European Union has been uncertain, and we think it’s important to measure public sentiment towards the major issues affecting the relationship between the European Union and this island.”

Ms O'Connell added: “There has been a significant increase of 9 per cent in the number of people in the Republic who are unsure if the EU is moving in the right direction, a jump from 18 per cent to 27 per cent in one year. More encouragingly, 70 per of people in Ireland (ROI) say they could not be convinced that Ireland would be better off outside of the EU.”