ICT fastest growing sector

The pace of growth in the information and communication technology sector has outstripped all others in the service economy in the past year.

Data released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) yesterday shows the ICT sector grew at almost twice the rate of the next-best performing sector from July 2013 to the same month this year.

Year-on-year, the sector grew by more than 16% while other service activities — the next best performing sector which includes real estate, gambling and recreation activities — saw an increase of more than 8.5%.

Professional, scientific and technical activities (+5.9%); accommodation and food services (+2.1%); and transportation and storage (+0.3%) were the next best performing sectors in the past 12 months.

From June to July this year, firms operating in the professional, scientific and technical market segments experienced the greatest expansion of business, having registered a 4% increase.

The next best performing sector in the month was ICT which continued its strong yearly performance.

Figures released by the Irish Exports Association (IEA) earlier in the week painted an equally positive picture of the export performance of ICT sector firms.

According to the IEA report, multinational ICT firms like Google — which topped the list with export revenues of €17bn — are among the biggest exporters in the country.