The 2014 Edelman Trust Barometer’s Irish findings reveal a significant (11 points) drop in trust in government in Ireland over the past 12 months. The fall puts trust in government back to pre-general election levels. Trust in business fell slightly but is still trusted nearly twice as much as government. NGOs in Ireland remain the most trusted institution despite falling 5 points. Trust in media in Ireland also declined (8 points) and is now less trusted than business. Globally overall trust levels declined, driven by the decimation of trust in government which fell significantly in many of the 27 countries surveyed. Trust in business has stabilised at 58 percent due to the perception that it has made demonstrable change in the form of better products and new leadership. Ireland Highlights 2014: • The Trust Index, the average trust across the four institutions of business, government, NGOs and media, showed a 7 point drop for Ireland (to 39 points). This places Ireland as the third least trusting country of the 27 surveyed. • NGOs in Ireland remain the most trusted institution despite falling 5 points to 58%. • Business is the second most trusted institution in Ireland, despite a small 3 point decline to 41%. It is now nearly twice as trusted as government. • The technology sector (67%) remained the most trusted industry sector, while banks were the least trusted at 19%. • Trust in media fell 8 points to 37%, reversing a gradual improvement observed during the previous five years. • Government is the least trusted of the four institutions with only 21% of people saying that they trust government to do what is right. This is the lowest level of trust recorded for Government since before the general election in 2011. • More concerning again is the fact that only 3% of people trust government leaders a great deal to tell the truth. • Credibility of CEOs as a source of information about a company fell seven points to 29%. CEOs are significantly less credible than Academics (68%). • Traditional media (newspapers, radio and television) are the most trusted source of information in Ireland (61%), followed by search engines at 50%. Only 26% of people trust social media as a source of information. • 56% believe that government is not doing enough to regulate business with the number increasing to 81% when specifically asked about the financial services sector.