Irish people fear crime more than any other Europeans. They are also very concerned about access to healthcare and the rising cost of living, according to a new EU survey on social attitudes.
The report, entitled European Social Reality, found that 50 per cent of Irish people list crime as a "main current concern".
This was the highest recorded figure across all 27 EU states, with Britain ranking second with 41 per cent of citizens citing fear of crime.
A third of Irish people say they feel unsafe walking home in the dark in their own neighbourhood. This compares to 55 per cent of people in Lithuania, the EU state ranked highest in this category.
The findings of yesterday's Eurobarometre survey back up the conclusions of a recent poll by Gallup, which found Ireland ranked as one of Europe's crime hotspots. The Government has questioned the accuracy of the findings and methodology in the Gallup survey.
The new EU survey, which questioned more than 1,000 people in November and December 2006, found that crime is one of the main concerns for Irish people. In comparison, just 7 per cent of Hungarians cited crime as one of their top three concerns.
The biggest single concern for Irish people noted in the survey is access to quality healthcare, with 59 per cent citing this as a main current concern.
This ranks Ireland second behind only Lithuania (61 per cent) for this category.
The rising cost of living was cited as a main concern for 49 per cent of Irish citizens. This was also a main concern in Cyprus (60 per cent), Latvia (53 per cent) and Greece (51 per cent).
The survey also found that more than half of citizens (52 per cent) do not trust a single political institution in the State. Yet despite this poor result, 32 per cent say they feel politics plays an important role in their lives.