The Irish economy expanded by almost 6% in the year to the end of September, according to new figures published by the Central Statistics Office.
The annual growth rate in the third quarter, in terms of gross domestic product, was 5.8%. But when allowance is made for an increase in the level of profits repatriated abroad by multinational companies, growth was 4.2%, slightly lower than in the first two quarters.
The figures show that the rate of economic activity was remarkably stable throughout the first nine months of this year with about €25.5 billion worth of output being added every three months.
The CSO figures also show that, after allowing for inflation, consumer spending was up 2.8% and industrial output was up 4.9% compared with the third quarter of last year. But capital investment rose by 3.6%, well down on the 15.4% rate in the second quarter.
The CSO also noted that the output of the house building sector in the third quarter of this year was unchanged from the same period last year, indicating that house building may have reached its full capacity. Economists are concerned that a reduction in output from house builders next year could depress economic growth figures for 2005.
Commenting on the CSO figures Austin Hughes of IIB Bank says the data suggest that Irish economic growth is still some way short of boom conditions.
He said the growth figures suggest the persistence of solid economic growth but the details hint that the Irish economy may currently lack sufficient momentum to generate rapid economic growth in 2005.
He said the economy experienced the soft of 'soft patch' seen in US data for the second quarter and euro area data for the third quarter.
'We expect a further moderation in the final quarter data, in part because of a difficult international climate and also because the last three months of 2003 were exceptionally strong,' he said.
