2.7% economic growth in Q1 - including illegal trade
Prostitution and profits from the drugs trade have given an added boost to Ireland’s improving economy.
With some illegal activities now included in revised measurements of the wealth of the nation, new figures show Irish businesses grew by 0.2% last year.
The latest official economic data also showed that the value of all goods and services, measured by gross domestic product (GDP), increased by 2.7% in the first three months of the year.
And the homegrown economy was also holding up, with gross national product, the value of Irish-owned businesses, growing by 0.5% in the same period.
Earlier estimates said the Irish economy shrank last year, with businesses suffering under a 0.3% contraction in value.
But under new European rules, statisticians are now using advice from police chiefs to estimate the value of profits from drug deals and money spent in some of the vice trades.
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) report on the first quarter of the year and revised estimates for 2013 reveal the value of Irish-owned business increased by 0.5% in that period.
The inclusion of illegal activity – fuel-smuggling had already been counted - was designed to make economic reports across Europe more comparable and followed initiatives in Britain and Italy.
