Irish people are the biggest fans of the euro in the entire eurozone

According to a Eurobarometer survey of euro citizens, 90pc of Irish people believe the euro has been good for the country and 93pc believe it is a good thing for the EU – by far the highest results in the euro area.

The results compare to 70pc and 80pc on average in the 19-member single currency area, respectively, making Ireland a single currency superfan.

Finland, Malta, the Baltic countries and Germany also showed above-average levels of euro approval.

The lowest percentage of euro fans were found in Belgium, Cyprus, Italy, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, although all countries still showed large majorities of citizens believe the euro has been good for their country and the EU.

The survey of almost 18,000 eurozone citizens, conducted in the last week of March this year, showed support for the euro is at record highs, 10 years after the financial crash and six years after a near Greek exit led to predictions that the currency would fail.

Irish people overwhelmingly believe the euro has made travelling easier and less costly (89pc) compared with just over half of people (55pc) in the rest of the eurozone.

And 90pc of Irish people believe it is easier to do business with a single currency, (compared with 81pc in the eurozone), while 95pc in Ireland say it’s easier to shop using the euro (compared with 84pc of their counterparts).

Irish people also find it easier to distinguish euro coins and notes than their eurozone neighbours – 75pc in Ireland say it’s “very easy” to tell bank notes apart (compared with 63pc in the eurozone) and 63pc say it’s very easy to distinguish coins (compared with less than half – 48pc – of their eurozone peers).

Irish people have consistently had one of the highest EU approval ratings in the bloc.

The survey also looked at what citizens want to reform in their own countries, with health and education coming out on top in Ireland.

A massive 86pc of Irish people believe reform of the health system is “very important” for growth and jobs, while 67pc value an education overhaul.

For their eurozone peers, education came out most important, with 71pc, just slightly above health at 69pc.

Pensions, labour market and social security reforms came next on the list for Irish people, while 46pc of Irish (and eurozone) citizens believe tax reform is very important to grow the economy.

Meanwhile, a slight majority of eurozone citizens (52pc) and Irish people (58pc) believe inflation will go up compared with last year.

European central bankers and governments have tried to dampen inflation expectations, saying price rises are to be expected as the economy reopens.

ECB head Christine Lagarde has said it’s premature to talk about unwinding the bank’s emergency crisis measures, as inflation will dip again later this year.

At 1.6pc in April, eurozone inflation was still below the ECB’s 2pc target.