Growth in the country's services sector improved in August from the two-year low hit after Britain's vote to leave the EU, a new survey shows today.
But sterling weakness helped push new export orders to a five-month low, the survey also revealed.
The Investec Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) of activity in services moved up to 59.7 in August from 59.5 in July.
But it remained well below the 61.2 in the June poll, which was mostly taken before the Brexit vote.
The index, which covers businesses from banks to hotels, has been above the 50 mark denoting growth for four years.
"While the improvement in the headline PMI is welcome, we note a further moderation in new business, with this index now expanding at its weakest pace since February 2014," Investec Ireland's chief economist Philip O'Sullivan said.
The new business sub-index slipped to 58.1 in August from 60.8 the previous month, with 24% of respondents signalling an increase in new business and 17% noting a decrease.
"Some respondents are reporting lower new orders from the UK, in part due to the strength of the euro compared with sterling," Mr O'Sullivan said.
He said this helped push the rate of expansion in the new export business index to a five-month low.
But there were signs of optimism in the survey of around 450 private sector companies, with nearly 17 times as many firms expecting to see a rise in activity over the coming year as those which forecast a fall.
