The economy shrank last year by more than previously estimated, according to revised figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).
The data showed gross domestic product (GDP) contracted by 7.6 per cent in 2009, compared to an earlier estimate of 7.1 per cent.
The CSO’s national income and expenditure figures for 2009, released today, also indicated gross national product (GNP), arguably a more accurate measure of activity in an economy with a large outflow of income from foreign multinationals, fell 10.7 per cent.
This, however, was less than the 11.3 per cent drop, originally estimated by the CSO in March.
Today’s data showed total disposable income, a measure of the amount of money available to spend and save in the economy, dropped by 15.1 per cent to €130 billion last year.
The CSO calculated net national product, a measure of incomes, fell 14.5 per cent to €22,573 per head of population.
Agricultural incomes decreased by 24.4 per cent, while incomes outside the agricultural sector decreased by 8.6 per cent.
The figures showed personal expenditure fell by 11.1 per cent last year, or by 7 per cent when price effects were discounted. Government expenditure dropped by 5.1 per cent, or by 4.4 per cent when price rises were taken into account.
The value of investment in construction and business equipment dropped by 37.9 per cent last year, as the downturn in the property sector showed no let-up.
However, figures showed the trade surplus widened with the value of exports exceeding imports by more than €23 billion, a significant increase on the €16 billion surplus recorded in 2008.
Fine Gael's enterprise spokesman Richard Bruton said the figures confirmed the Republic suffered "both the longest and deepest recession" of any advanced economy in the world.
"Ignoring price changes, the size of the Irish economy in GDP terms fell by 16 per cent between 2007 and 2009," he said.
"This is five times worse than the OECD average over the period and levels of domestic investment are now at levels last seen in 1997."
The net effect of this economic contraction is and would be “an inevitable and massive rise” in unemployment, Mr Bruton said.
“Despite all the evidence and the conclusions of the recent banking reports, some Government ministers continue to pretend that Ireland’s problems were caused by outside forces, when the truth is that Ireland and its people have been the victims of catastrophic economic mismanagement,” he said.
