The vast majority of people in Ireland would be in favour of basic DIY skills being added in some shape or form to the Irish secondary school curriculum according to a poll carried out by the AA.
The AA has a first-hand interest in the subject having just launched a new subscription based service for home emergencies such as burst pipes, broken down boliers and faulty electrics called AA Home Emergency Response.
Of a group of 11,000 people polled by AA Home Emergency Response, 90% either completely or somewhat agreed that the valuable life skills should be taught to pupils with many suggesting transition year as a good opportunity to do so. Just 2% of those polled said they were strongly opposed to the notion.
“It is amazing how many of us don’t have the first clue about how to carry out a simple task like changing a tap-washer or bleeding a radiator.” Says AA’s Conor Faughnan. “Even wiring a plug is very simple when you know how to do it but impossible and even dangerous if you don’t.”
A quarter of all respondents polled said they’re completely clueless about DIY. While in the minority compared to the 60% of respondents who described themselves as either somewhat or very good at DIY, further poll results generated by AA Home Emergency Response suggest that it could be a dying art among younger generations.
One of the major barriers identified by those poll participants under the age of 35 vis à vis DIY was having no one to teach them the basics according to AA Home Emergency Response. A third of those within this age category who cannot do DIY said it’s because they’ve never had the opportunity to learn compared to 14% of those over the age of 65 and 19% of those aged between 55 and 65 years.
The under 35s were also quicker to admit that laziness and a general lack of interest were to blame for their nonexistent DIY skills.
ABOUT AA HOME EMERGENCY RESPONSE
AA Home Emergency Response cover is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are no call-out charges and for work carried out under the policy, parts and labour are guaranteed. Cover is available to both existing AA members and non members. For further details including a dedicated Q&A section visit: www.aaireland.ie/HER.
ALL RESPONDENTS:
Fig. 1 (A) Are you a ‘DIY King/Queen’ or a ‘DIY Disaster’? Please indicate on the scale below how you would describe your DIY abilities. (Based on 11,093 responses)
Very good | 17.2% |
Somewhat good | 42.3% |
Neutral | 14.2% |
Not very good | 24.8% |
Other | 0.3% |
None of the above | 1.1% |
MALES ONLY:
Fig. 1 (B) Are you a ‘DIY King/Queen’ or a ‘DIY Disaster’? Please indicate on the scale below how you would describe your DIY abilities. (Based on 6463 responses from MALE participants)
Very good | 23.7% |
Somewhat good | 43.1% |
Neutral | 13.3% |
Not very good | 18.8% |
Other | 0.4% |
None of the above | 0.7% |
FEMALES ONLY:
Fig. 1 (C) Are you a ‘DIY King/Queen’ or a ‘DIY Disaster’? Please indicate on the scale below how you would
describe your DIY abilities. (Based on 4,577 responses from FEMALE participants)
Very good | 8.0% |
Somewhat good | 41.2% |
Neutral | 15.5% |
Not very good | 33.2% |
Other | 0.3% |
None of the above | 1.8% |
SPLIT BY AGE:
Fig. 1 (D) Are you a ‘DIY King/Queen’ or a ‘DIY Disaster’? Please indicate on the scale below how you would
describe your DIY abilities. (Based on 11,093 responses)
17-24 yrs (223 responses) | 25-35 yrs (2,072 responses) | 36 to 45 yrs (2,836 responses) | 45 to 55 yrs (3,039 responses) | 55 to 65 yrs (1,896 responses) | 65+ years (1109 responses) | |
Very good | 13.7% | 15.1% | 16.0% | 18.6% | 19.4% | 17.9% |
Somewhat good | 43.3% | 44.9% | 42.0% | 42.0% | 41.4% | 40.5% |
Neutral | 16.3% | 15.5% | 15.5% | 13.1% | 12.0% | 14.4% |
Not very good | 25.8% | 23.5% | 25.2% | 24.9% | 24.9% | 25.2% |
Other | 0.0% | 0.2% | 0.4% | 0.3% | 0.5% | 0.6% |
None of the above | 0.9% | 0.7% | 0.8% | 1.2% | 2.0% | 1.4% |
ALL RESPONDENTS:
Fig. 2 (A) What those who indicated that mediocre/poor at DIY attributed their lack of skills (Based on
4297 responses)
My hectic lifestyle | 11.6% |
Lack of interest | 22.4% |
No one to teach me | 26.5% |
Laziness | 11.0% |
A lack of confidence | 31.5% |
Prefer to leave it to the professionals | 39.9% |
Other | 3.2% |
MALES ONLY:
Fig. 2 (B) What MALE respondents who indicated that mediocre/poor at DIY attributed their lack of
skills (Based on 2072 responses)
My hectic lifestyle | 11.0% |
Lack of interest | 23.1% |
No one to teach me | 25.0% |
Laziness | 13.0% |
A lack of confidence | 32.3% |
Prefer to leave it to the professionals | 40.2% |
Other | 3.1% |
FEMALES ONLY:
Fig. 2 (C) What the FEMALE respondents who indicated that mediocre/poor at DIY attributed their lack
of skills (Based on 2202 responses)
My hectic lifestyle | 12.3% |
Lack of interest | 21.8% |
No one to teach me | 27.8% |
Laziness | 9.1% |
A lack of confidence | 30.7% |
Prefer to leave it to the professionals | 39.6% |
Other | 3.3% |
SPLIT BY AGE:
17-24 yrs (98 responses) | 25-35 yrs (804 responses) | 36 to 45 yrs (1,148 responses) | 45 to 55 yrs (1,156 responses) | 55 to 65 yrs (691 responses) | 65+ years (364 responses) | |
My hectic lifestyle | 13.3% | 14.6% | 13.5% | 13.4% | 6.7% | 1.9% |
Lack of interest | 35.7% | 28.9% | 24.6% | 19.6% | 16.5% | 18.7% |
No one to teach me | 31.6% | 34.6% | 32.8% | 22.9% | 18.8% | 14.0% |
Laziness | 16.3% | 12.8% | 11.5% | 10.2% | 8.7% | 11.3% |
A lack of confidence | 24.5% | 31.2% | 32.0% | 33.8% | 30.5% | 25.0% |
Prefer to leave it to the professionals | 38.8% | 34.2% | 34.8% | 38.8% | 48.6% | 55.2% |
Other | 3.1% | 2.9% | 3.8% | 3.1% | 2.2% | 3.8% |
Fig. 3 To what extent poll respondents agreed/disagreed that basic DIY skills should be taught in the Irish school system? (Based on 10, 930 responses)
Agree completely | 55.9% |
Agree somewhat | 34.0% |
Neutral | 6.5% |
Disagree somewhat | 2.0% |
Disagree completely | 1.6% |