The majority of Irish people distrust government, Non-Governmental Organisations, the media and business, the latest Edelman Trust Barometer shows.
They also do not see their economic prospects improving over the coming years and believe that in its current form, capitalism does more harm than good.
The annual Edelman Trust Barometer, now in its twentieth year, surveys over 34,000 respondents in 28 markets.
The latest edition was carried out ahead of the February 8 election here.
It shows a record 17-point gap in trust levels of the four institutions between respondents who are wealthier and more frequent consumers of news and the rest of the general public.
The Edelman research shows that wealthy respondents have high trust levels in NGOs and business, while they view government and the media neutrally.
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But there is a very different view of the institutions among the general public and only NGOs are viewed as neutral, with the lowest levels of trust in government and the media.
This is largely due to perceptions of unfairness, with government and business seen as the least fair institutions, serving the interests of the few, Edelman explained.
Despite strong economic growth and near full employment levels in Ireland, the 2020 Trust Barometer also shows that increasing numbers of Irish people are pessimistic about their economic prospects.
Just 37% said they believe that they and their families will be better off in five years' time, compared to 47% last year.
"At a time of high employment and economic growth, trust in government, business, media and NGOs should be surfing high on the wave of prosperity," commented Joe Carmody, Managing Director of Edelman Ireland.
"That is not the case and it would appear that trust has decoupled from national economic prosperity - with none of our institutions in Ireland trusted by the general public," he added.
Mr Carmody said that we find ourselves living in a type of trust paradox with high economic performance on the one hand and issues of belief in our institutions on the other.
