There is no end of year silver lining for the Irish economy.
Just released official figures show that the Irish economy, as measured by gross domestic product, contracted by 1.9 percent in the third quarter.
And when gross national product is calculated - this does not include profits made by multi-nationals operating in the Republic - the economy actually shrank by 2.2 percent.
The figures appear disappointing following growth earlier in the year, but Central Statistics Office (CSO) economists are warning against reading too much into quarterly changes, RTE reported.
The latest figures were affected by a drop of more than 20 percent in investment, but this can be heavily influenced by purchases of bigger items such as planes, the report stated.
Measured on an annual basis, GDP fell by 0.1 percent while GNP was down 4.2 percent.
The CSO said consumer spending and government spending both fell by 1.3 percent during the third quarter, while investment slumped by 20.9 percent. Exports increased by 0.8 percent, however, the figures reveal.
The only sector to record an increase in output during the third quarter was agriculture, forestry and fishing, where output rose 4.5 percent. Industrial output fell 1.3 percent and this including a 5.9 percent drop in building and construction, the sector that formed the molten core of the Irish economy during the Celtic Tiger boom years.
The latest figures cover just one quarter three months of 2011 and the figures for the final three months, with the Christmas buying season included, have yet top be measured but some economists are suggesting that the third quarter results point to the likelihood that growth forecasts for 2012 might end up being revised downward.
