David Kearns, Digital Journalist and Media Officer of UCD University Relations published an article titles “Nearly half of Irish public does not trust the Government to be honest or tell the truth, according to new UCD study“.
He writes that “Almost half of Ireland (48%) does not trust the Government to be honest and truthful, with 58% thinking it communicates inaccurate and biased information. This is according to a new study commissioned by UCD, as part of its European Commission Horizon 2020 project PERITIA – Policy Expertise and Trust in Action.
The research, based on survey data from over 12,000 people across six countries, found the Irish public’s perceptions of their government to be more negative than other European nations, with only people in the UK and Poland rating theirs worse across several measures.“
He explains that across a range of questions designed to assess views of government trustworthiness, the Irish public were found to hold unfavourable perceptions.
“Almost six in 10 people in Ireland think the government does not communicate accurate and unbiased information, while over half (54%) are unsure whether to believe the government”.
“Some 45% of respondents think the government ignores rules and procedures, with only Poland (50%) and the UK (62%) having more negative views”.
By comparison, only one third of people in Germany (34%) and Norway (35%) say their government ignores rules and procedures.
In Ireland, the majority (53%) felt the government ignores them – with only people in the UK (61%) and Poland (66%) more likely to feel ignored, and 42% said the government acts unfairly towards people like them – again, behind only Poland (63%) and the UK (49%) but similar to Italy (42%) and Germany (41%).
The feeling that the government is not honest and truthful was shared by 48% of those surveyed across Ireland; a finding in line with the average across the six countries surveyed (50%) but notably higher than in some such as Norway (36%).
Six in 10 said they are usually cautious about trusting the government – higher than in Germany (49%) and Norway (41%), but similar to Italy (62%) and the UK (63%).
