The economy continued to grow at a rapid pace in the second quarter of the year, CSO figures published yesterday showed.

There was an 11% increase in the seasonally adjusted trade surplus for March to €3.489bn, although the headline figure masks underlying trends that could cause future problems.

GDP over the second quarter of this year fell by 1.1% compared with the same period in 2011, although GDP was flat compared with the first quarter of this year.