Poll: Irish divided on bailout, say sovereignty lost

Just over 50 per cent of the Irish people support multi-billion euro EU-IMF rescue package.

DUBLIN: Just over 50 per cent of the Irish people support a multi-billion euro European Union-International Monetary Fund (EU-IMF) rescue package but believe the country has lost its sovereignty by accepting the external assistance, according to a poll published on Saturday.

Ireland was forced to resort to the IMF, the EU and European Central Bank to negotiate an €85 billion loan after a banking sector crisis drove the economy into the ground and sent ripples across the wider euro zone.

Irish taxpayers face years of spending cuts and tax hikes, as part of a four-year austerity drive designed to squeeze €15 billion from the worst deficit in Europe, beginning with the 2011 budget’s record package of €6 billion in adjustments.

When asked if they supported the bailout, 51 per cent of Irish people said they welcomed it, 37 per cent did not, and 12 per cent did not know, an Irish Times/Ipsos MRBI poll showed. Fifty-six per cent of the 1,000 voters sampled said Dublin had surrendered its sovereignty by accepting the deal, while 33 per cent said it had not and 11 per cent had no opinion.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 19^th, 2010.