Official figures show that manufacturing output in January was down slightly compared with the same month last year.
The Central Statistics Office said the volume of production - adjusted for seasonal factors - fell 0.1% compared with January 2011, though it was up 0.7% from December.
For the three months from November to January, seasonally adjusted output was down 7.4% compared with the previous three months.
The modern sector - which includes the technology and chemical sectors - showed a 4.9% monthly increase in production in January, but there was a drop of 7.4% in the traditional manufacturing sector.
