A RED C exit poll for RTÉ and TG4 indicates that 60% of the population believe it is important to use, promote and protect the Irish language.

3,000 people were questioned as part of the poll, after casting their vote yesterday.

On a scale of one to ten, 60% of those surveyed selected seven or higher when questioned about the importance of the Irish language. Of those questioned, under 35-year-old's expressed the strongest support.

69% of the people questioned, and who are aged between 18-34, as well as 60% of those between the ages of 35-54, believe that it is very important to promote the Irish language.

Strong support for Irish was expressed by people who have varying levels of spoken Irish.

51% of the people questioned referred to the importance of providing Gaelscoileanna, 37% expressed the need for Irish language television programming and 36% spoke of the importance of supporting Irish language in Gaeltacht areas.

The strongest support was expressed by those who speak Irish and use the language regularly.

Further findings from the poll also suggest there is significant support among Irish voters for a united Ireland.

65% of voters polled have indicated they would vote in favour of a united Ireland if a referendum was held tomorrow. 19% would vote against the proposal, while 15% of respondents to the poll said they did not know or refused to answer the question.

Excluding undecided and non-voters, the findings suggest that 77% are in favour of a united Ireland with 23% against.

It has also emerged that almost 90% of voters feel that the Government needs to prioritise climate change more.

And another statistic that may be a cause of concern for the Fine Gael-led minority Government, shows that 42% of voters trust this Government to manage the economy and public spending well.

54% of voters polled disagreed with the statement "I trust this Government to manage the economy and public spending well".

On the issue of migration, 52% of voters agreed with the statement that "people are coming into Ireland illegally, staying here and freeloading off the State".

But seven out of ten voters agree that on the whole immigration has benefited Irish society.

There has been a lot of debate about the militarisation of the EU during the European election campaign.

According to the RTÉ TG4 Exit Poll, 82% of voters say Ireland should remain a neutral country in all aspects, while a third of voters agree that Ireland should be part of "the proposed European Armed Forces."

85% of Irish voters are delighted that Ireland has become more liberal in recent years. And 59% of voters have indicated that they believe the country is going in the right direction.

Almost nine out of ten voters (89%) believe there should be more policies to resolve the gap between rich and poor.

82% of those polled agreed that local issues such as homelessness are much more important than European issues.

76% of voters surveyed agree with the statement that they are tired of listening to so called experts or elites who do not speak for me

The projections of the RTÉ TG4 Exit Poll are based on a survey of a randomly selected sample of 3,016 eligible voters outside 156 polling stations across the country yesterday.

All those selected for interview had already voted and the margin of error is plus or minus 3%.