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.

Michael Noonan’s 2017 budget is already on course to break EU rules even before any breaches in the Lansdowne Road public pay agreement are accounted for, the country’s fiscal watchdog has said.

As John McHale prepares to step down from the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council, he can scan across the positives of the Irish economy since the watchdog was set up at the height of the crisis.

UK prime minister Theresa May will “move heaven and earth” to trigger Article 50 and start its divorce talks with the EU by the end of March, but there is no disguising that London is badly prepared for the looming negotiations, Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon told a business gathering in Dublin.