The average price of a home is now €253,000, according to a new report.

The Government should focus on solving “structural” issues holding back home building rather than on policies that may lead to higher house prices, according to a major report by Davy.

GDP numbers suggesting the economy leaped in the latest quarter again overstate the strength of the economy, analysts have said, as a wary eye is kept on the potential Brexit fallout in the coming months.

More than 2m people are in employment, the most working in the country since 2008, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office.

The property market grew in the first quarter of the year, new figures indicate.

There are indications that house prices will bounce back this year, but Dublin is likely to lag behind the rest of the country.

House prices are expected to increase by 5% this year, with the growth strongest outside of Dublin.

A huge flow of corporation tax receipts has swelled exchequer finances, meaning the Government is likely to have €3bn more in its coffers at the end of this year than it expected just a year ago.

Ireland’s trade balance is expected to show a first increase in five years, this year, as the broad-based recovery in export performance continues.

The Dublin region will see substantial growth rates in the coming years –matching the economic surge of the ‘pre-bubble Celtic Tiger’ era, but leading economists are struggling to find a new moniker for this new and milder economic beast —with suggestions so far including ‘the Celtic Wolfhound’ and ‘the Celtic Kitten’.

House prices are continuing to rise across the country and are predicted to rise at a modest rate until the end of the year.

A buoyant set of exchequer figures for May confirm that the economy is growing rapidly. The Department of Finance figures showed that revenues from all the main tax headings rose significantly in the first five months of the year.

Unemployment is still expected to fall below 10% this quarter, despite fresh data showing no change in April — only the third time in two years that the jobless rate hasn’t declined on a month-to-month basis.

Ireland’s seasonally adjusted trade surplus slipped by 1% to €3.8bn in February, although another strong export performance is anticipated for 2015, as a whole.

Household debt levels reached an eight-year low towards the end of last year, figures from the Central Bank showed yesterday.

Irish debt-to-GDP is set to fall below 80% by the end of the decade and the country is on course to regain its AAA credit rating over the same timeframe, according to Davy Stockbrokers.

House prices have risen by nearly 15% in the past year, according to the latest figures from the Central Statistics Office.

Strong motor sales drove a 6.2% increase in the volume of retail sales in May, compared to the same period last year. This represents a 0.9% monthly increase from April of this year, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

The price of houses in Dublin has risen by more than 22% in the past year, double the national average. It’s the fastest rise since the peak of the property boom in 2007.

The focus of government support for the housing market should be on helping increase the supply of units rather than artificially boosting demand among first-time buyers, according to Conall MacCoille of Davy Stockbrokers.

The economy may be recovering from the effects of the pharmaceutical cliff as exports from indigenous industries pick-up.

Ireland topped the EU leader board for industrial production posting growth of 13.2% in the year to November.

As the country enjoyed its first week after the troika, the Government was greeted with strong growth figures from the quarterly national accounts that showed GDP rose by 1.5%.

Irish GDP is understated because of the way the CSO measures production in the pharmaceutical sector, according to Davy Stockbroker chief economist, Conall MacCoille.

There was a marginal rise in consumer prices last month, while industrial output recorded an increase of 3% in September.

Average house prices are up nearly 3% over the last 12 months, with Dublin showing the most dramatic recovery.

Davy stockbrokers believe headline figures showing that Ireland is experiencing a double dip recession have been unduly influenced by the performance of multinational companies and that the fundamentals of the economy are improving.

Exchequer figures remain on target even though the cost of servicing the national debt ballooned by more than 13% as the cost of paying IBRC bonds resulted in a €600m bill.

The ECB has not ruled out cutting interest rates further than their historical low of 0.5% in a move that could see Irish banks lose even more money on their tracker mortgage books.

Ireland’s mortgage arrears crisis is set to deteriorate further as more borrowers deliberately opt not to make repayments.

Production levels from Ireland’s manufacturing sector increased by 0.2% on a monthly level and by 0.1% year-on-year in February, according to latest CSO data.

For the first time in three years, Davy Stockbrokers has upgraded its outlook for the economy, according to a briefing document issued this morning.

The monthly volume of retail sales decreased by 1.7% in January in department stores, bars, and in the motor trade.

Employment has increased for the whole year for the first time since 2008, according to the Quarterly National Household survey released this week.

Ireland is planning its first long-term bond issue since the financial crisis using the European bond-buying programme as a safety net.

The restructuring of the promissory notes will yield the State €800m in savings through lower interest rate payments between this year and 2030, according to Davy Stockbroker economist Conall MacCoille.

Alan Shatter disputed the accusation this week that the women of the Magdalene Laundries were slaves. Of course they were, writes Dan Buckley

Production levels from Ireland’s manufacturing sectors are expected to show a modest recovery this year, after falling by 1.3% in 2012.

A senior economist has questioned the credibility of the Central Statistics Office’s house price statistics, and said the decline in house values is much higher than the CSO estimates.

GDP growth is forecast to reach 0.2% this year and 0.9% next year, although GNP is expected to shrink by -0.6% in 2012 and remain flat in 2013, according to Davy Stockbrokers.

Irish pharmaceuticals’ dependence on imported raw materials means the impact on GDP of the expiry of key global patents will be far less than has been feared, according to chief economist with Davy Stockbrokers Conall MacCoille.

As fresh discussions on public service savings begin tomorrow, it has emerged that workers in the sector have seen average pay rise by 1% in the last year and weekly paid hours fall by 0.6%.