There was a 68% increase in the number of HIV diagnoses in Ireland last year compared to 2019.
A report from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) released to coincide with World Aids Day, showed there were 884 cases here.
The majority of the incidence of HIV reported in 2022, almost two-thirds, occurred in people previously diagnosed with the virus outside Ireland.
The data from the HPSC showed that a fifth of the cases last year, 173, were first-time HIV diagnoses.
The figure represents a 16% decrease in the rate compared with the 2019 pre-pandemic level.
The majority of the first-time diagnoses were among men, with the rate for men almost four times the rate in women.
The HPSC said: "The key population group affected by HIV in Ireland remains gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (gbMSM)."
The gbMSM category accounted for 58% of first-time HIV diagnoses in Ireland in 2022.
The HPSC has raised concerns that "45% of people with a first-time diagnosis of HIV were diagnosed late".
