Industrial production slumped between February and April in the latest piece of data to show a wild volatility in parts of the Irish economy.
Production fell 1.3 per cent compared with the November to January period but was 13.2 per cent lower than at the same time last year, data from the Central Statistics Office showed on Tuesday.
Much of the drop off came from a slump in manufacturing a year after companies rushed to produce and export goods from Ireland to the US amid fears US president Donald Trump would impose sweeping tariffs on imports to the US from Europe.
Manufacturing production tumbled 26 per cent compared to the same three months in 2025. While not all of that manufacturing takes place in Ireland, it feeds through Irish headquartered businesses, the CSO said.
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Industrial production data is known to vary greatly over relatively short time periods, given the level of contract manufacturing and outsourcing that takes place within the Irish economy. As a result, the CSO itself has long advised that anyone analysing the data take a longer-term view of the numbers.
Apart from manufacturing, much of the decline came within the so-called modern sector of the economy, which includes chemicals, electronics and pharmaceuticals. That sector saw production fall more than 13 per cent.
Production in those areas had spiked a year ago as they account for a significant portion of the State’s exports to the US.
The surge in production and exports last spring has already distorted wider economic data for Ireland. Gross domestic product contracted more than 12 per cent during the first quarter of 2026 compared to the first months of 2025.
That drop helped push the wider European Union into economic contraction for the period.
