The Irish electorate is likely to reject any attempt to extend the European Union's powers to deal with the region's financial crisis, a poll in The Irish Times newspaper showed on Wednesday.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy have said they are working on possible amendments to the bloc's Lisbon Treaty to boost coordination.

But in The Irish Times/MRBI poll, some 47 percent of respondents said they would vote against an amendment to the EU treaty to extend powers to deal with the euro zone crisis. The poll found 28 percent of respondents would vote in favour of amending the treaty and 25 percent were undecided.

Under Irish law, a referendum is needed to agree changes to an EU treaty. Irish voters have twice held up treaty changes in Europe by rejecting changes in a popular vote.

The Lisbon Treaty on institutional reform was only approved in 2009 after the government secured several concessions.

Voters were also critical of the manner in which European leaders are running the EU with 55 percent saying they were dissatisfied, 27 percent reporting that they were satisfied, and 18 percent had no opinion.

There was, however, still strong support for Ireland's membership of the European Union with 67 percent saying it was better to be part of the bloc, 23 percent disagreeing, and 10 percent having no opinion.

The poll was taken between Friday and Monday and involved 1,000 participants at 100 locations.

(Reporting by Carmel Crimmins)

Germany