Irish firms ‘struggle’ with pound’s slump

Irish indigenous firms are “struggling” following the slump in the value of sterling against the euro in the wake of the UK’s vote in June to leave the EU, a leading economist has said.

The warning comes as the CSO published industrial output figures which showed the so-called ‘modern’ part of the economy, which includes the many multinational pharmaceutical plants based in the country, rose sharply, by 14.1%, in July from a year earlier.

Output for all factories grew by an annual 7.4%, but the CSO again issued a ‘health warning’ on the figures following the huge upward revisions published in July to Irish GDP levels.