The Irish manufacturing sector saw an improvement in conditions in September as new orders and employment levels both registered growth.
The NCB Purchasing Manager index rose to 51.8 last month from a reading of 50.9 in August to record its seven successive month of growth in a row.
Any figure over 50 signals growth in the sector, while a figure under 50 signals contraction.
Production growth in the manufacturing sector was recorded for the fifth month in a row, while new orders increased after firms secured new customers.
However, new export orders fell slightly amid weak demand in overseas markets. This fall ended six months of expansion in this sector in a row and was due to the challenges facing some of the country's main trading partners.
NCB said that higher workloads encouraged companies to take on extra staff last month and it noted that the rate of job creation was solid and the fastest in three months.
Higher raw material and commodity prices lead to an increase in input prices for the second month in a row, NCB noted. Oil prices were widely mentioned by companies.
But firms were able to raise their output prices in response to those higher costs and the rate of charge inflation was the fastest since April 2011. The increase in output prices was the first in 14 months.
NCB economist Philip O'Sullivan said that the PMI shows a welcome improvement in Irish manufacturing conditions in September.
But he noted that one area of concern is new export orders which fell below the no-change 50 mark for the first time in seven months. ''This is likely to be driven to some extend by the well-documented challenges facing many of Ireland's key trading partners,'' he said.
