Michael McGrath (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

The truth is that GDP is measured in Ireland in exactly the same way as in every other European country, but because we have a very large multinational sector, we believe it is important to have other measures of the economy as well. This is why we have MDD and GNI* and we publish all this information regularly. The agreed international measure of economic performance, though, whether that be growth or contraction, is GDP. Those numbers, therefore, are published for Ireland alongside all the other member states of the European Union but we have consistently pointed out that sector-specific and even product-specific trends or changes can impact Irish GDP given its nature.

What is encouraging is to note that exports have rebounded. The direction of travel is consistent with a pick-up in goods exports, which grew by 8% in the first quarter of this year compared to the last quarter of 2023. The reduction in GDP last year was driven by the external environment and it was sector- and product-specific. We believe this impact has largely washed through the system at this stage and there is now again growth in exports. This is manifesting in the positive projection for GDP across this year.

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