Post-Covid economic bounce well and truly over

For years Irish economic growth data has been inflated by the activities of multinationals, with growth rates often multiples of the international average. Now we are seeing the other side of the coin. A fall-off in multinational exports and investment means gross domestic product will fall this year for the first time since 2012, according to the latest forecast from the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI), which predicts a decline of 1.6 per cent. We know, of course, that GDP is a very poor indicator of the Irish economy. So, it is important to look at the details of…