Survey shows slump in business sentiment during Q2

Business sentiment slumped in the second quarter of this year, according to the latest IBEC survey.

The business group says that a weakening market for exports to other eurozone countries compounded the negative sentiment among Irish companies.

However, the survey was completed before the breakthrough on debt reduction at the recent EU summit.

IBEC says the deal has the potential to ease concerns and boost sentiment in the coming months.

Chief economist with IBEC Fergal O'Brien said Irish business has been very sensitive to the fiscal crisis that has spread across Europe.

"The escalation of the eurozone crisis… there really has been a lot of nervousness about, particularly in the second quarter of this year," Mr O'Brien said.

"This was affecting the exports side of things, we were seeing that orders in European business were slowing down.

"Also, from a domestic economy point of view consumers were just worried about what was happening in Europe," he added.

"So it was a difficult time."