A new study tracking all the latest key economic indicators for Co Galway shows increased traffic volumes, growing employment levels and a new record high for rents.
The Galway Economic Monitor was launched by Galway Chamber and Grant Thornton and will be published twice a year.
They said the data in the report will be tracked and contrasted from publication to publication as well as on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis depending on the source of the information.
Today's monitor shows that average daily road traffic volumes in Galway surpassed pre-pandemic levels and reached 92,942 in April, an increase of 8% on last year.
Peak morning traffic volumes were up by 2.2% over April 2022, and peak evening traffic was also up 2.3% year on year.
The monitor also highlighted that average daily traffic volumes reached a new high in March, hitting 113,414 journeys a day.
The monitor also shows that the number of people in Galway on the Live Register fell in March. A total of 8,785 people in the county were signing on that month, a 3.8% drop from the previous month.
Meanwhile the total number of people employed in the wider region was higher, with the figures showing that 225,700 people were employed in the West in the fourth quarter of 2022 - a new peak for the area.
This was up 3.9% on the previous quarter and represented a jump of 11,848 on the same time the previous year.
The Galway Economic Monitor also shows there were a total of 269 residential property transactions in Galway in January, a dip of 0.3% on the number of sales in January 2022.
House prices in the West region which were down by 1.2% in January on the previous month but up 9.6% year on year, it also reveals.
But residential rents in Galway also hit a new peak in the third quarter of 2022, with the average rent reaching €1,269 a month. This was up by 0.9% on the previous quarter.
Kenny Deery, CEO of Galway Chamber said, said the new monitor is an important tool which will be of use to all of those concerned with public policy and the economic performance of Galway.
"For the first time we will have a data driven report which will bring together all the information tracking the key indicators in one location," Mr Deery said.
"It will effectively act as a dashboard for how Galway's local economy is performing. It will shine a light on the local aspects of success as well as those elements which may require further attention. We hope it will help provide a greater understanding of both the challenges and opportunities facing the city and county over the years ahead," he added.
Aengus Burns, Partner with Grant Thornton, said that as anyone in business or directing public policy knows, when you're making decisions, you need to have all the information available.
"The data matters and that data should be easily accessible. That is what we are seeking to achieve with this new publication and our hope is that it will become a useful tool for all the key decision makers throughout Galway and the wider region over time," Mr Burns added.
