Reflection of Irish and UK flags

4th Institute of Irish Studies Attitudinal Survey July 2022

The latest Institute of Irish Studies/Irish News survey was complete by 1000 panel member respondents.

Download the full 4th Institute of Irish Studies Attitudinal Survey July 2022 [PDF 1.3MB] here.

Findings point to an accumulating body of evidence that there are more similarities in terms of opinions between communities than is assumed or commented upon. There is inter-community consensus regarding:

Findings point to an accumulating body of evidence that there are more similarities in terms of opinions between communities than is assumed or commented upon. There is inter-community consensus regarding:

  • 81.5% agreed that there ‘should be an independent review of the Assembly and Executive to explore how they could function better’. This was supported by 74.4% of unionists, 87.2% of nationalists and 85.5% of neithers.
  • Fewer agreed that if the governance structures of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement are to be changed, this change should be led by the Irish government (16.9%), the British government (22.7%) or MLAs (38.1%). This may point to a lack of trust and a desire for more participative forms of democracy.
  • The greater number agreed (45.1% compared to 18.2% disagreed) that if someone is willing to engage meaningfully to provide truth to families about harm caused to a family member, a conditional amnesty should be offered to that person. Agreement was higher among SF (58.6%) than DUP voters (33.5%).
  • 75.4% of respondents believe the issues around the Protocol are complex and difficult to understand. With a high level of respondents agreeing that goods coming from GB or the rest of the world should not be checked if destined only for Northern Ireland ranging from almost 75% of unionists, to 60% each amongst nationalists and neithers. Over 70% of respondents believe access to both the EU and UK markets is vital to the economy of Northern Ireland with 78.8% nationalist, 72% unionist and 77.5% neithers in agreement.

A significant number of respondents had either no knowledge of how Northern Ireland performs against the rest of the world or significantly underestimated the contribution it makes.

  • Only 11% were able to estimate that in 2022 food from Northern Ireland fed 10 million people in the UK. Less than 6% could accurately place Belfast as ranking 7th out of 179 regions in terms of contribution to the UK economy. Almost half believed it ranked no higher than 37th or as poorly as 179th. Less than 10% of respondents were able to accurately identify that reported sectarian crime has decreased significantly (i.e. by 60%), a similar number believed it had only decreased by 6%. Significantly more unionists than nationalists were likely to answer ‘don’t know’ to this question.
  • Across the EU it is estimated that an average of 22.1% of energy used (electricity) comes from renewable sources, only 5.6% of respondents knew that Northern Ireland produces 40% from renewables. 50.6% believed it be less, as low as 5% and 43.9% did not know.

Download the full 4th Institute of Irish Studies Attitudinal Survey July 2022 [PDF 1.3MB] here.

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