Growth in the services sector picked up last month, rebounding from September's four-year low, as new orders, exports and job creation all picked up, the NCB/NTC purchasing managers' survey shows today.
The headline activity index rose to 56.5 last month from 54.8 in September which had been the lowest since August 2003.
October's rate was comfortably above the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction although still below levels above 60 seen in much of 2005 and 2006.
The index reveals that job creation picked up in October after easing in September to its weakest pace since June 2004.
Although backlogs of work fell slightly, new business, including export business, accelerated.
Those improvements were reflected in business expectations which moved to a five-month high in October, buoyed by company expansion plans.
'The September survey may have been influenced, partly at least, by worries about the ramifications of the turbulence in credit markets,' said NCB Chief Economist Dermot O'Brien.
'All main activity components of the survey shared in the October rebound and their latest readings suggest that the private services sector, which accounts for over 40% of economic activity in Ireland, is in robust health,' he added.
