The European heatwave was most important news story of July 2019 according to Core Cultural Index

• Stories that generated greatest public awareness included RTE’s Hyde and Seek creche controversy

• The Women’s World Cup was of low importance to Irish people in July

The European heatwave and Boris Johnson winning the race to become Conservative leader and Britain’s next Prime Minister were the most important news stories in Ireland in July 2019. This is according to research from Core’s Cultural Index, compiled by Ireland’s largest marketing communications company, and based on the views of 1,000 participants discussing 20 news. Core’s research asked interviewees which stories they were aware of, and of them, deemed most important.

While Ireland escaped the scorching temperatures, 92% of all adults were extremely aware of the record high temperatures across Europe. Young people were particularly engaged, with 74% saying this was important or very important to them. The engagement with this climate story is further evidence that people, particularly the next generation, are concerned about global warming.

Second to the heatwave, and also Europe related, was the election of Boris Johnson as the UK’s new Prime Minister. Irish people who said this was an important story (66%) were also more likely to be concerned about a downturn in the Irish economy.

The third story which resonated with Irish people in July, and particularly young parents, was the controversy surrounding the creche facility, Hyde and Seek. RTÉ Prime Time investigated a group of creches and up to 675,000 people watched the TV report about the childcare facilities. 84% of young families said this was an important news story to them.

Amber and Greg winning Love Island was also high on the agenda for Irish people generating 59% of awareness amongst respondents with one in four young adults saying it was important to them.

Stories that received less interest included Instagram’s new update which hides the amount of likes on photos and the Women’s World Cup.

The full top ten stories to feature on the Core Cultural Index for July 2019 were:

1. Heatwave across Europe                                                                                   69.1
2. Boris Johnson elected as Conservative leader and UK Prime Minister 67.0
3. Hyde and Seek creche controversy                                                                   61.3
4. Brendan Grace dies                                                                                            57.2
5. Ongoing insurance claims pay-outs and premium costs                             49.7
6. Apollo 11’s 50^th Anniversary                                                                             49.4
7. Hong Kong protests and clashes                                                                       48.7
8. Shane Lowry wins the British Open                                                                 48.7
9. Centre Parcs opens in Longford                                                                       40.4
10. Tipperary and Kilkenny proceed to All Ireland Hurling final                37.7

Core employs a team of 310 people and consists of nine practices – Creative, Data, Investment, Learning, Media (comprising of Mediaworks, Spark Foundry, Starcom and Zenith), Recruitment, Research, Sponsorship and Strategy. Core has been voted Agency Network of the Year for the last six years at the Media Awards and the company was also recently voted one of the top workplaces in Ireland by the Great Place to Work Institute for the tenth year running.

To view the full findings of the Core Research Cultural Index July, please click here:

Europe’s Heatwave tops July’s news stories