New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the rate of unemployment continued to fall in June.
The CSO said the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate fell to 6.3% in June, down from 6.4% in May and from 8.3% in June 2016.
The jobless rate compares with a current euro zone average of 9.3%.
The seasonally adjusted number of persons unemployed was 139,400 in June, a decrease of 42,100 on the same time last year and the lowest level since June 2008.
Today's figures show that unemployment rate for men stood at 7.1% in June, down from 9.4% the same month last year.
The jobless rate for women was 5.4%, down from 6.9% in June 2016.
But the seasonally adjusted youth unemployment rate edged higher in June to 11.9% from the rate of 11.8% in May.
Unemployment has consistently fallen since hitting a peak of 15.1% in 2012 when the country was in the middle of a three-year international bailout and jobs growth has accelerated further in recent months.
The Finance Department has estimated that the jobless rate would dip below 6% by the end of this year.
Today's figures show that employment rose in 11 of the 14 economic sectors on an annual basis in the first quarter of 2017.
The greatest rates of increase were posted in the information and communication sector which rose by 8.8%, while the construction sector grew by 8.5%.
But some sectors recorded job losses with the biggest annual decline coming in agriculture, forestry and fishing - which fell by 1.5%. The fall may have been Brexit related.
Commenting on today's figures, Merrion economist Alan McQuaid said that after the very positive start to 2017, we are now looking for a net jobs rise of around 60,000 this year.
He said that following these latest numbers, he is forecasting an average jobless rate in 2017 of 6.4% as against 7.9% in 2016 and 9.4% in 2015.
Meanwhile, Davy analyst David McNamara said that Ireland saw its first positive year of net inward migration in 2016.
He said this marginal increase in inward migration was probably underestimated based on new Census data.
"The unemployment rate could well be revised up once the Census revisions are incorporated into the labour market data," he added.
