Business group Ibec said — even amid the “massive worry” that Brexit is savaging a number of Irish-owned industries — that overall employment levels will return to their pre-crash peak at the end of next year.

Irish bank shares posted gains despite continuing fears about the health of Italian lenders and a cautionary report from Fitch Ratings on the outlook for Irish lenders after Brexit.

A 52-page report by the CSO has for the first time detailed the depth of the economic and social links binding the economies of Ireland and Britain — ties which could be under threat if the UK pursues its hard Brexit line in its looming divorce talks with Brussels.

New legislation may be required to ensure investors are compensated in a reasonable period of time when big investment firms go under, the Investor Compensation Company, set up to protect investors, has said.

European elections, Brexit talks, and the policies of US president-elect Donald Trump are among the “immense risks” facing the Irish economy in 2017, economist Jim Power said in his annual assessment for investment firm Friends First.