How wrong our 'hunches' are

Irish people are seriously deluded on a range of public policy issues.

The Ipsos MRBI/Irish Times  'Perceptions Research' poll has produced startling findings.

Sixty two per cent think the unemployed get most from the social welfare budget. Not true. Pensioners get the biggest cut.

Although only 12 per cent of the population is made up of foreign nationals, more than one in three believe that the foreign national community represents over 30 per cent of the population.

Ireland ranks seventh on the UN Human Development Index, which measures 186 countries' performance under headings such as health, wealth, hapines and education.

The average guess was that we rank 35th on the UN HDI.