The task of forecasting how the Irish economy will perform in 2024 is made all the more difficult by the contradictory indicators on its performance in 2023. The headline growth figures point to a very weak outturn for last year. The latest data show that GDP declined by 1.3% year-on-year over the first three quarters of 2023. This reflected a sharp fall in output and exports in the pharmaceutical and technology sectors as activity returned to more normalised levels following its surge during the COVID pandemic.