Irish business more cautious as Brexit looms but continues to report solid growth

Business sentiment slips in Summer ’18 on increased uncertainty

• Firms report further increases in output and employment in past three months
• Four times as many companies seeing headcount rise as fall
• Irish Business sees one in three chance that UK crashes out of EU without transition deal
• Key Brexit fears are UK market access and increased customs/regulatory burden
• Likely impact of Brexit on Irish business becoming less rather than more clear
• Business sees housing/health and ‘overheating' as priorities for Budget 2019

Irish business sentiment has weakened as increased uncertainty about the outlook for the global economy weighs on firms’ expectations for their own activity levels in coming quarters as well as their assessment of prospects for the Irish economy as a whole.