InfoCons Consumer Protection & Product Safety Department • Country Briefing • Ireland (IE)
Ireland Beats the EU Average on All Three Consumer Pillars in 2025 — Ranked 9th to 13th of 29 in Europe
Thinking of moving to, studying in, or teaching in Ireland? Here is what the European Commission’s Consumer Conditions Scoreboard 2025 reveals about how protected, informed and safe consumers feel in Ireland – and exactly where the country stands against the other 28 markets in Europe. Across the three pillars of the Scoreboard’s Knowledge, Trust & Product Safety chapter, Ireland ranks 9th for trust, 10th for rights knowledge and 13th for product safety, out of 29 markets.
The Big Picture: Ireland vs. the EU27, Europe’s Best and Europe’s Lowest
The chart below sets Ireland side by side with the EU27 average, with Europe’s top-scoring market and with Europe’s lowest-scoring market on each of the three consumer pillars. It is the quickest way to see whether Ireland is closer to the European front-runners or to the back of the pack.
Figure 1: Ireland compared with the EU27 average, the European leader and the European lowest score on each pillar (% of adults, 2024).
What Figure 1 shows, in numbers:
- Trust in retailers: Ireland 77% vs. EU27 70% (7 percentage points above the EU27 average). Europe’s best is Austria at 88%; the lowest is Greece at 44%.
- High knowledge of rights: Ireland 29% vs. EU27 29% (exactly level with the EU27 average). Europe’s best is Denmark at 43%; the lowest is Greece at 10%.
- Product-safety confidence: Ireland 71% vs. EU27 68% (3 percentage points above the EU27 average). Europe’s best is Finland at 92%; the lowest is Greece at 59%.
Where Ireland Ranks Among Europe’s 29 Markets
The next infographic plots all 29 markets on a single scale for each pillar. The large navy dot is Ireland; the gold diamond is the EU27 average; the grey ticks are the other markets. The further right Ireland sits, the better it scores.
Figure 2: Ireland’s position on each pillar relative to the full European field and the EU27 average (% of adults, 2024).
What Figure 2 shows, in numbers:
- Trust: 9th of 29 at 77%, just behind Belgium (77%) and ahead of Czech Republic (76%). The EU27 average is 70%.
- Rights knowledge: 10th of 29 at 29%, just behind Iceland (30%) and ahead of Italy (29%). The EU27 average is 29%.
- Product safety: 13th of 29 at 71%, just behind Germany (72%) and ahead of Austria (71%). The EU27 average is 68%.
Trust in Traders: Do Retailers in Ireland Respect Your Rights?
In Ireland, 77% of consumers agree that retailers and service providers respect their rights – 7 percentage points above the EU27 average. That is the 9th-strongest trust score of the 29 European markets surveyed. For everyday shopping that is encouraging: most people here expect fair treatment from traders. Across the EU as a whole, trust in retailers returned to its pre-pandemic level of 70% in 2024, while trust in public authorities to protect consumers stood at 61% and trust in consumer NGOs also at 61%. Trust tends to be higher among younger consumers and lower among those in a difficult financial situation.
Consumer-Rights Knowledge: How Well-Informed Are Shoppers in Ireland?
29% of consumers in Ireland reach the Scoreboard’s HIGH knowledge band – correctly answering at least three of four core questions – exactly level with the EU27 average, ranking Ireland 10th of 29. This is the pillar where Europe is weakest overall: across the EU27 only 29% qualify as highly knowledgeable, while 35% fall into the LOW band. At EU level, 59% know the 14-day cooling-off right for distance purchases, 56% know a contract cannot raise prices one-sidedly without a cancellation option, just 44% know about the two-year legal guarantee for faulty goods, and only 31% know they are not obliged to pay for unsolicited products. Ireland’s above-average score is a genuine asset – but the low EU baseline means even here many consumers under-use rights they actually hold.
Product Safety, Recalls & the Safety Gate in Ireland
71% of consumers in Ireland are confident that the non-food products on the market are safe, 3 percentage points above the EU27 average and 13th of 29. Product safety is the most reassuring pillar across Europe, averaging 68% in the EU27 – broadly stable since 2018. At EU level, 56% of consumers had seen a product recall in the past two years and 13% had owned a recalled product; 14% experienced a product-safety issue (more than half did not complain about it); and 2% reported an injury from a dangerous product. Behind the scenes, the EU’s Safety Gate rapid-alert system exchanged 4,137 alerts on dangerous non-food products in 2024 – up 22% on 2023 and 95% on 2022 – with products from China making up 40% of alerts and chemical risks the most common hazard at 49%.
The Bottom Line for Expats, Students & Faculty in Ireland
Ireland’s relative strength is trust in retailers (9th in Europe), and its weakest pillar is product-safety confidence (13th of 29). Wherever you settle, the same EU-wide protections travel with you: the two-year legal guarantee on goods, the 14-day cooling-off period for distance and online purchases, out-of-court (ADR) and online dispute resolution, the European Consumer Centres Network for cross-border problems, and the Safety Gate for dangerous products. In markets like Ireland where product-safety confidence ranks lower, knowing these rights is your single most powerful tool as a consumer.
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InfoCons Consumer Protection & Product Safety Department
Data source: European Commission, Directorate-General for Justice and Consumers, Consumer Conditions Scoreboard 2025 (Knowledge, Trust & Product Safety chapter and Annex I country summaries). Analysis, ranking and visualisation by the InfoCons Consumer Protection & Product Safety Department. Country values are read from the Scoreboard’s country-summary charts; where two markets sit very close, the ordering is indicative.