Dr. Shana Cohen:

First, both Tiarnán McDonough and I thank the committee for the invitation. TASC was founded in 2001. Since then, we have been engaged in research and public education aimed at strengthening democratic institutions and accountability mechanisms. We also try to understand public perceptions of the health of democracy in Ireland and the EU. In response to the committee's request for information about citizens’ attitudes to democracy and the rule of law, we will present findings from our work in this area over the last 20 years, including insights on how to build greater democratic resilience considering the threats to democracy in Europe and beyond.

In 2005, TASC conducted a democratic audit of 1,200 adults aged 15 and older with Lansdowne Market Research. At the time, we found that attitudes toward democracy were more positive than in other European countries, as 70% of respondents reported being satisfied or very satisfied with the way democracy was developing. In contrast, approximately 50% of respondents reported the same in Europe. Greater equality was considered a democratic value in the survey, as 38% of respondents regarded the most important feature of democracy as "a more equal society". By comparison, 10% responded that "voting for governments in elections" was the most important feature of democracy and 5% of respondents reported that a "free market economy" was an important feature of democracy. More than 90% of respondents favoured enshrining social rights in law, such as universal rights to education, healthcare and housing for homeless people. Two out of every three respondents supported extending these rights to non-citizen residents here. This survey was conducted almost 20 years ago, but in our more recent, qualitative research conducted over the last five to six years pre-Covid and post-Covid, we have noted parallel findings.

Social class remains a major determinant of satisfaction in democracy. In the national audit I cited, those in the highest socioeconomic grouping were more likely to report high levels of satisfaction with democracy compared with those in the lowest category. In the survey, respondents felt that the interests of business owners and managers were the best represented in the Dáil, and that the interests of people living in disadvantaged areas were the least represented. When we asked which groups were treated most unfairly in within Irish society, the most frequently mentioned group in the audit was people living in disadvantaged communities, followed by people with disabilities. The group that people were most likely to say were treated worse than they had been five years previously were people in disadvantaged communities, at 40% and carers, at 30%. These findings suggest that in Ireland, as in other EU countries, not addressing inequality has knock-on effects for trust in politics, policymakers and the policymaking process.

Someone told me recently the Government does not trust working class communities, and residents of these communities feel like they are ignored and disrespected. Councils would prefer to engage with middle-class charity staff representing these areas, rather than directly with the people who live there. Comparative data on political trust collected by the OECD in 2023 shows that in Ireland there is a wider gap in levels of trust in national government between those who report having concerns about their own financial well-being when compared with the OECD average. People in Ireland who feel financially insecure are more distrustful of national Government in comparison with other wealthy OECD countries. This disaffection is pervasive across income brackets. It is not just financial discomfort among the most disadvantaged communities, but also in higher income brackets. Recent research we have conducted in disadvantaged areas has found little interest in voter registration and engagement with politics. In our research, we found distrust and disinterest in the political process and political parties in particular. The distrust is particularly acute in disadvantaged areas, but that does not mean it is only disadvantaged areas.

Research in 2019 with young people in the top 10% income bracket in Ireland, Spain and the UK found that Irish interviewees exhibited the least interest in party politics and the most disaffection with Government. The causes of this alienation are lack of tangible impact in their lives from policymaking and a lack of contact with politicians themselves.

In 2023, after Covid, we spoke to young people living in disadvantaged communities in east Limerick and parts of Dublin about their feelings of trust in politics and democracy. Some of the people we contacted did not understand how and why we would expect them to be interested in politics. Echoing the findings of our democracy audit 20 years ago, in the focus groups and interviews in this research done last year, politicians were viewed as largely interested in personal benefit and remaining in office and not in listening to the concerns of young people, particularly those with experience of socioeconomic disadvantage. The only exception to this was when politicians responded to personal problems. We found that most of the people we talked to during our research last year, and this year in another project, consumed news through social media platforms, making them more vulnerable to misinformation and disinformation, although they reported not necessarily trusting the news they read on social media.

We are currently conducting research in Poppintree, Ballymun for our people’s transition project, which is bringing together community development, participatory democracy and climate action. According to data compiled by Compass Informatics on behalf of Pobal, Poppintree is an area of growing deprivation, with more neighbourhoods classed as very or extremely disadvantaged in the latest census. This represents a deterioration between 2016 and 2022. Preliminary findings from a survey conducted in the area show that more than 95% of respondents reported that they felt changes were needed in their local area but less than 20% felt that they had the power to make changes. I am citing this example as it shows that without tangible change, there is greater disaffection with democracy. There is a greater sense of capacity to make a change, even through voting. Among respondents, residents and community activists were the most trusted to make positive change, and the media and civil servants were the least trusted. There is obviously a gap between the residents of this area and the Government.

In our work at TASC, we have responded to this disaffection through focusing on producing results from our research, expanding public education and enabling young people in particular to participate in policy research. For the people’s transition, we target communities facing complex challenges, spending months listening to resident concerns and then build partnerships to seek funding for projects for our work to produce a concrete impact for the area. It is different from just a consultation. We have also created an open government toolkit and a deliberative democracy toolkit designed to encourage more knowledge and engagement with Government. Our objective is to reduce the gap between the public and politicians and to demonstrate that democracy works for everyone, a premise predicated on tangible change.