Irish economy grew by 4.8% in 2024 – CSO

Ireland’s national income, a key measure of economic growth, rose by 4.8% last year according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office.

The figure, which excludes the effect of multinationals, compares to growth of 5% a year earlier.

The figures mean that the economy continued to enjoy robust growth last year.

Personal spending on goods and services, a key measure of domestic activity, increased by 2.9% last year.

The CSO said wages rose by 3% last year with pay in industry up 6%, while wages in public administration rose by 4%.

Total exports grew by 8.6% – mainly driven by an increase in service exports of 10.9% while total imports rose by 2.7%.

The CSO said Gross Domestic Product, which includes the impact of multinationals, rose 2.6% last year mainly driven by domestic dominated sectors.

The CSO also revised downwards its earlier 9.7% estimate of GDP for the first three months of 2025 to 7.4%.

It said growth in the domestic economy was 2% in the first three months of the year.

Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe noted that inflation eased considerably throughout 2024, which boosted real incomes.

“As a result, consumer spending grew solidly by just under 3%, supported by strong growth in employment. Overall, Modified Domestic Demand (MDD) increased by 1.8% in 2024, while GNI* increased by almost 5%,” the Minister said.

GDP increased by 7.4% on a quarterly basis, which Mr Donohoe said was driven by a strong increase in goods exports reflecting, in part, the “front-loading” of exports in anticipation of the imposition of tariffs by the US administration.

“As I have stressed previously, this activity is likely to moderate somewhat over the remainder of this year,” he said.

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The Minister said the country is facing into a period of considerable uncertainty in the global economic environment relating to the introduction of tariffs and the rise in geo-fragmentation.

“Given the globally integrated nature of the Irish economy, this uncertainty will act as a headwind to Irish growth,” he stated.

“From a policy perspective, we need to continue to calibrate economic and budgetary policies that recognise the changed external backdrop. In particular, this means focusing on boosting the competitiveness of the economy and continuing to build up our fiscal buffers,” he added.