ALMOST three quarters of people in Ireland feel less positive about their future following the events of 2016 - especially Donald Trump’s election as US President.
Research, conducted by Amárach Research for RTÉ show Claire Byrne Live, asked Irish people about their opinions of international affairs following Trump’s inauguration.
They found that 71 per cent of Irish people now feel less positive about world affairs while just five per cent felt enthusiastic for the future.
When asked where Ireland’s closest political, cultural and economic ties should lie, just five per cent of people believed the Irish Government should form its closet relationship with the United States.
This was in comparison to 30 per cent of people saying that Ireland’s closest political relationship should be with Britain while a majority of 52 percent felt stronger affiliation to their EU partners.
The poll also asked Irish people if they should follow Britain in holding their own In-Out EU referendum.
But while their closet neighbours voted in a majority of 52 per cent to leave the EU, Irish people are less keen on the prospect of a referendum with 68 per cent of people being currently opposed to a vote on membership.
Only 22 per cent of people believed that Ireland should hold a referendum on their EU membership, which represented just over one in five people.
The poll was carried out by Amárach Research for Claire Byrne Live on Monday, January 23 on a panel of 1,000 Irish adults.
