With so much ill-feeling in the air over the water charges, we wondered, does the government's performance affect people's levels of happiness?

Newstalk Breakfast spoke to Pete Lunn, research economist with the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) about this question - it turns out that the government does have quite a large effect on our well-being.

Mr Lunn refers to “subjective well-being” research which measures the levels of happiness in societies, and says that "a government's ability to provide key services has a big impact on levels of happiness across a population".

He adds that: "If a country efficiently delivers services it is more possible to do things, it is more possible to set up ventures, it is more possible to change careers - it is just more possible to live your life with a little bit more freedom".

Traditionally economic performance is measured through numbers like GDP and GNP, but modern economists and social researchers are adding an increasing amount of importance to other measures, like a population's reported level of happiness.

The recession has taken a toll on Ireland, factors like income and employment contribute towards happiness measures - but we have remained high in these rankings. Ireland constantly outperforms its neighbours in the UK.

Ireland's high rankings are down to strong performances in areas like community engagement, trust, environment, health, safety and work/life balance.

The Nordic countries are the happiest - Denmark topped the most recent poll, while Norway, Sweden, Finland and Iceland all came in the top ten. They are joined by other small, well-off and socially cohesive nations like Switzerland, the Netherlands and Austria - although Canada also ranked among them.