Ireland's GDP rises by 12% despite year of economic shocks
The globalised Industry sector expanded by over 29% in 2025. Picture: Larry Cummins
Ireland saw economic growth in the double-digits in 2025 despite the economic and geopolitical threats that dominated last year, with new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showing gross domestic product (GDP) increased by over 12%.
The growth was largely underpinned by multinational-dominated sectors, which rose by over 25%.
Exports increased by just under 10% in total in 2025, while imports increased by 9.5% over the same period. As a result, net exports grew by over 10% in 2025.
This was despite a volatile trading year for Ireland, with good exports seeing significant variation on a monthly basis arising from tariff threats and subsequent stockpiling by exporters.
The globalised industry sector expanded by over 29% in 2025 while the information and communication sector posted an increase of 11.5% over the same period.
Speaking on the results, CSO statistician Chris Sibley said the strength of the globalised industry sector "is reflected in goods exports growth of 23.5% in 2025, contributing to the full year GDP result."
Meanwhile, domestic sectors saw more modest growth, rising by just under 1%.
On a quarterly basis, GDP fell by almost 4% in the final three months of 2025. This was considerably lower than preliminary estimates, which forecasted just a 0.6% decrease for the final quarter of last year.
The final three months also saw a 3% decline in exports, with investment in the same period also falling by almost 5%
Despite the quarterly fall in GDP, there was continued growth in the domestic economy in the quarter.
The CSO reported that modified domestic demand (MDD) which strips out distortions from foreign-owned multinationals, rose by just under 5% in the year. On a quarterly basis, it grew by 1% in the last three months of 2025.
Final Domestic Demand (FDD), a measure of personal, government, and investment spending, increased by over 15% in 2025, with statistician Justin Flannery saying this reflects higher levels of investment in Intangible Assets.
Meanwhile, personal spending on goods and services, a key measure of domestic economic activity, grew by just under 1% between October and December 2025, and was up by just under 3% in the year.
Compensation of Employees, which includes wages as well other payments such as bonuses and allowances, increased by 1.0% in 2025.
The Balance of Payments Current Account recorded a surplus of €12.8bn in transactions with the rest of the world in the final three months of last year.
"Overall, GDP is estimated to have increased by 12.3% in 2025. Gross National Product (GNP), a measure of economic activity that excludes the profits of multinationals, rose by 2.4% in the year, reflecting an increase in factor income outflows of 42.2%," Mr Flannery concluded.
Speaking on the figures, Tánaiste and Finance Minister Simon Harris said: "Despite external headwinds, the domestic economy grew strongly last year.
“While the headline figures may somewhat overstate the economy’s underlying growth, I am encouraged that consumer spending grew by a solid 3% last year. This reflects rising real incomes and the strength of our labour market, with a record 2.83m people in employment at the end of 2025.
Mr Harris added that while the CSO figures reflect the resilience of the Irish economy, "we cannot become complacent."
"Indeed, recent developments clearly illustrate that uncertainty is likely to be a feature of the economic landscape for some time. The conflict in the Middle East is potentially a significant headwind to global growth and risk to the inflation outlook.
"The impact on commodity prices will, of course, hinge on the duration and extent of the disruption in supply.
“My Department is continuing to monitor international developments closely and will publish updated economic forecasts as part of the Annual Progress Report in the coming weeks.”
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