Provisional figures show an 8.4% increase in manufacturing production last year after two years of falls.
The Central Statistics Office said the volume of manufacturing production in December was down 1.9% compared with November, though it was up 18.3% compared with December 2009.
Production for the final three months of 2010 was 3.8% lower compared with the third quarter, according to the Central Statistics Office.
The annual increase in production was mainly due to a jump of almost 40% in the pharmaceutical sector.
The 'modern' sector, which includes a number of high-technology and chemical industries, showed an annual increase in production for December 2010 of 23.1%. There was an increase of 7.9% in the 'traditional' sector.
