The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has published the Annual National Accounts 2025 which confirms that Gross National Income (GNI*), a key deglobalised measure of Ireland’s economic performance, increased by 4.7 percent last year. GDP increased by 8 percent, driven primarily by growth in multinational-dominated sectors.
In 2025, Modified Domestic Demand (MDD), a broad measure of underlying domestic activity that covers personal, government and investment spending, also rose by 4.7 percent. Total exports grew by 7.5 percent, which was driven by an increase in goods exports of 15.4 percent. Total imports grew by 9.6 percent last year.
The Quarterly National Accounts for the first quarter of this year, however, indicate a fall in GDP by 7 percent in the first three months of this year with a contraction of 7.5 percent in the multinational dominated sectors. MDD grew in the quarter by 0.3 percent. In addition, personal spending on goods and services, seen as a key measure of domestic economic activity, grew by 0.8 percent in Q1 2026. The Quarterly International Accounts indicate that, service exports at €126.9 billion in Q1 2026, increased by €7.2 billion when compared with Q1 2025, however service imports at €117.5 billion fell by €1.7 billion over the same period in 2025.
Commenting on the publication, Minister for Finance Simon Harris said:
“I welcome today’s data from the CSO which confirms that the domestic economy continued to grow strongly last year. Rising real incomes, boosted by a robust labour market, supported consumer spending, which grew solidly by 2½ per cent. At the same time, investment activity benefitted from the expansion in housing output and significant capital spending in the multinational sector. Overall, both Modified Domestic Demand and Modified Gross National Income increased by 4.7 per cent in 2025.
Today’s data also confirms that this momentum continued into the first quarter of this year with Modified Domestic Demand growing at an annual rate of 3½ per cent.
In terms of the forthcoming budget, the next stepping stone is the publication of the mid-year exchequer position, which Minister Chambers and I will do tomorrow. Thereafter, Government will publish its Summer Economic Statement in the coming weeks, setting out the broad parameters for Budget 2027.”
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