Housing is top of the list of most important issues facing the country, survey finds

Two-thirds of people say housing is one of the most important issues facing the country, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

This is based on the OECD Trust Survey 2025, and it highlights some interesting worries among the general public in Ireland.

It found that housing, inflation, cost of living and the availability of services like education and healthcare were the top three issues facing the country last year.

Sixty-four per cent of respondents highlighted the availability, quality and affordability of housing as one of the three most important issues, which was the highest percentage recorded for housing across the 38 countries surveyed.

The average for the inflation issue across all countries was 52%, but in Ireland this sat at 64%, with these respondents explicitly naming it as a top three issue.

When it came to immigration, 24% of respondents highlighted it as a top three issue facing the country, compared with 16% in 2023. The average for all surveyed countries was 25%.

Crime was another key issue highlighted in the survey, with almost three in ten of those aged 50 and over considering it a top three issue facing Ireland. This was double the rate of those aged 18 to 29.

Sarah Crilly, Statistician in the Social Cohesion and Sustainable Development Goals Divisions of the CSO, said: “Ireland was one of 38 countries that participated in the OECD Trust Survey 2025, with the previous Trust Surveys taking place in 2021 and 2023. In addition to questions on trust, the survey asked respondents to choose the top three issues facing their country from thirteen topics.

“These included the availability, quality or affordability of housing, inflation and cost of living, and availability, quality or affordability of healthcare and education services. The results are based on more than 77,000 people taking part in the survey across 38 countries, with 2,194 responses gathered in Ireland.

“In Ireland, almost two-thirds (64%) of respondents reported the availability, quality or affordability of housing as one of the three most important issues facing the country, down from 71% in 2023. This was the highest percentage for this issue of any country surveyed in 2025, followed by Luxembourg at 50% and Iceland at 36%. The OECD average was 20%.

“More than eight in ten (84%) respondents aged 18 to 29 years considered the availability, quality, or affordability of housing to be a top three issue, compared with 63% for those aged 30 to 49 years and 59% for those aged 50 years and over.

“The availability, quality, or affordability of housing was the issue most frequently identified as one of the top three issues facing the country in both the Eastern & Midland (66%) and Northern & Western (64%) regions. In the Southern region, housing ranked second (61%), with a higher proportion of respondents (67%) identifying inflation or the cost of living as one of the top three issues.”