Consumer Mindset - October 2025
October’s cultural mood is defined by empathy and restraint. The month’s most resonant stories - the O’Connor family murders, the Gaza aid flotilla and the discovery of bodies in Dublin - evoked sorrow and moral reflection, uniting the public in shared vulnerability.
At the same time, issues such as homelessness and far-right activity carried moral importance but lower visibility, while global political moments like Trump’s peace plan were met with fatigue rather than fury.
Emotional Temperature: Measured but Weary
Ireland’s emotional profile remains balanced yet subdued. Happiness and enjoyment are still dominant but slowly declining, hinting at a nation adapting to challenge rather than recovering from it. Stress and frustration have eased, but optimism continues to erode. Hope has been replaced by pragmatic realism - a kind of calm endurance more than contentment.
Worry, though easing, remains the leading negative emotion, showing that people feel steadier but not uplifted. The result is a collective tone of cautious acceptance: a public that is emotionally stable, but not yet energised to believe in renewal.
Economic Reality: Relief Without Recovery
Even with inflation easing, cost-of-living concern still affects roughly half the population. Grocery prices — the most visible sign of inflation — remain stubbornly high, preventing economic improvement from feeling real in daily life. This mismatch between data and experience reinforces the sense of subdued resilience: relief without restoration.
The Credit Union Consumer Sentiment Index now sits at 59.9, its second monthly fall and well below 2024’s average — a signal that the public mood remains stagnant despite macro-economic progress.
Economic fatigue mirrors emotional fatigue. The public recognises the statistics, but sentiment has not caught up.
Direction Score: Flattened Optimism
October saw another dip in the national Direction Score — the measure of whether people feel life is improving or worsening — falling from +5.1 in September to +2.0.
Personal finances have dropped to their lowest point since early 2024, and nearly half of adults under 40 say their housing situation is deteriorating. As winter approaches, people express growing unease about affordability and stability, even as social connections and health remain stable.
The public outlook is cautious rather than despairing: a steady hand rather than a clenched fist.
Budget 2026: A Quiet Response
Public engagement with Budget 2026 was high — over 70 percent of adults called it significant — but the reaction was subdued. Search interest fell 17 percent from last year, showing detachment between government messaging and how people feel it affects their lives.
Seven in ten (71%) believe the economy is worsening, echoing economist Emma Howard’s warning that the Government announced an “unsustainably large increase in spending, without making many people happy.”
Four Mindsets in Focus
Core’s analysis identifies four economic mindsets shaping how people interpret national policy:
Stability Seekers (39%) – The pragmatic centre, prioritising competence and fairness while demanding practical relief from living costs.
Balanced Realists (25%) – Ethical pragmatists who favour collective benefit and fairness over personal gain.
Everyday Pragmatists (21%) – “Kitchen-table economists” who value direct, immediate financial support.
Progressive Planners (15%) – Future-focused idealists advocating long-term investment in housing, health, and sustainability.
These groups capture Ireland’s psychological divide between “spending today” and “investing for tomorrow,” or “for me” versus “for we.” The majority sit somewhere between — steady, cautious, hopeful in moderation.
Outlook: Realism and Reassurance
Across culture, emotion, and economics, Ireland ends October in a state of cautious stability. The national mood is steady but uninspired — a calm surface over slow-moving uncertainty.
For communicators and brands, optimism alone will not resonate. What works now are messages grounded in empathy and realism: authenticity over spectacle, reassurance over rhetoric, and small credible reasons to believe that better times are ahead.
