New figures released by the Central Statistics Office show that both imports and exports decreased in August and September.
When seasonally adjusted, exports dropped 5% and imports fell 3% when compared with the previous month's figures.
And August also showed a dip from July, with exports down 5% and imports losing 1%.
In the eight months from January to August, however, both imports and exports showed increases on the same period in 2006.
Exports went up 5% from €56.9 billion to €59.7 billion, while imports rose from €39.5 billion to €40.8 billion, an increase of 3%.
The value of goods sold to China and Hong Kong totalled €1.2 billion, an increase of 35%, while imported transport equipment, including aviation equipment, was up a whopping 130% to €1.96 billion.
