13 Feb 2012
Posted by Miriam O'Neill 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% |
