Official figures show a pick-up in industrial production in the first three months of this year, led by the pharmaceutical sector.
The Central Statistics Office said the volume of production from January to March was 15.3% ahead of the final three months of 2009. This figure is adjusted to take seasonal factors into account.
For March alone, production was 3.1% ahead of the same month last year, with production of pharmaceutical products up 15.6%.
The modern sector - which includes high-technology and chemicals - showed a 5.9% annual increase in March, but the traditional sector recorded a 2.9% drop.
Employers' group IBEC said the figures were further evidence of economic recovery.
'While the high-tech sector has clearly led the recovery, output from the traditional sector has now recorded two successive quarters of growth, albeit coming from a very low base,' said IBEC economist Fergal O'Brien. But he warned that price pressures were a problem, with the value of output in Q1 11% down from a year earlier.
Bloxham economist Alan McQuaid sid the multi-national sector was leading the way, but the underlying trend in the traditional sector was improving, helped by sterling's weakness. He forecast a 5% rise in manufacturing output for the whole of 2010.
