New CSO figures suggests Irish exports and all Ireland trade continue to benefit from Brexit deal

Overall exports of goods from the Republic to the world rose to almost €20bn in from July last year to August 2022, an increase of over €4bn.

Exports to Britain surged by 59% in the months leading to August, when compared with the same eight month period last year, due to high demand for chemical products. 

These figures suggest the economy north and south continues to benefit from Brexit and the Northern Ireland Protocol deal, as all-Ireland trade continued to expand as well.

However, DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson claims the Protocol has created barriers on the movement of goods between Britain and Northern Ireland and said the “debris” from the deal must be “cleared away” before power sharing in Stormont can resume.

The CSO figures show exports from the Republic across the Irish Sea into Britain rose to almost €1.5bn from €969m, and accounted for 8% of total goods exports from Ireland.

The products accounting for the largest share of exports to Britain were chemicals and other related products at €655m and food and live animals at €328m.

Meanwhile, exports from the Republic to the North were up from €329m to €406m.

Overall exports of goods from the Republic to the world rose to almost €20bn in August 2022, an increase of over €4bn on July 2021 figures.

August recorded the highest level of seasonally adjusted exports and imports for this year, and were higher than figures for each month last year.

"Comparing the first eight months of 2022 with the same period in 2021, exports of goods increased by 30%, and the value of imports increased by 39%," said statistician Ciarán Counihan.

Goods imports overall rose to €13.2bn in August 2022.

The EU accounted for 44% of total goods exports in August, of which €3.25m went to Germany, €2.3m went to Belgium and €1.2 went to the Netherlands.

The US was the main non-EU destination accounting 27% of total exports in August 2022.