The country's manufacturing sector ended the second quarter with strong momentum as growth hit a five-month high in June.
This was due to a second successive sharp monthly acceleration in the rate of new orders, the latest PMI survey showed today.
Investec's Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index rose to 56.6 from 55.4 in May to extend a run above the 50 mark separating growth from contraction that stretches back to 2013.
The Irish economy has been the best performing in the European Union every year since then.
The sub-index measuring new orders jumped to 60.2 from 57.2 in May and 53.8 the month before that as respondents reported higher growth from domestic and overseas customers, including in Russia, India and the US.
It was only the fifth time new orders crossed the 60-mark since 1999, with four of them coming in the last eight months.
"Around 55% of firms expect to see a rise in production over the coming year, with this assessment based on the anticipation of stronger growth in export markets in particular," Investec Ireland's chief economist Philip O'Sullivan said.
"With global growth expected to remain close to 4% per annum into the medium term, we think this optimism is well founded," he added.
