Half the work in applied economics is finding the right source. This page collects the datasets and institutions we use most often when writing about the Irish economy, with a short note on what each is good for and what to watch out for. The list is not exhaustive and it is not an endorsement — every dataset has limitations, and we note the most important ones where relevant.
Irish official statistics
- Central Statistics Office (CSO — StatBank). The primary source for almost all Irish economic data: national accounts, labour force survey, earnings, prices, trade, population, housing. The PxStat and Databank interfaces are powerful but dated. Most series are also available through the open-data API. Watch for: frequent revisions to national accounts, and the modified measures (GNI*, modified domestic demand) which are the ones to use for cross-country comparison.
- Central Bank of Ireland. Publishes the Quarterly Bulletin, Financial Stability Review, mortgage statistics, credit data and the money and banking series. The Statistical Bulletin tables are the backbone of monetary analysis. Watch for: the distinction between resident and domestic-sector credit.
- Revenue Commissioners. The annual Statistical Report and the Costs of Tax Expenditures publication are the best sources for tax-base composition and the distribution of reliefs. Watch for: data is reported by taxpayer group, and group definitions change over time.
- Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC). Independent statutory body assessing the Government's budgetary projections. The Fiscal Assessment Report and the Stand-Note series are essential reading for fiscal analysis. Watch for: IFAC's "excess" corporation tax estimate is methodology-dependent and is updated each report.
- Department of Finance. Budget publications, the Economic and Fiscal Outlook, and the Stability Programme Update. These are the official forecasts. Watch for: the gap between official forecasts and IFAC's independent assessment.
European and international sources
- Eurostat. The harmonised cross-country source: GDP components, government finance statistics, labour market, prices, external trade. Ireland's data is flagged where the multinational distortion makes it non-comparable. Watch for: the "GDP warning" flag on Irish series — it is there for a reason.
- ECB Statistical Data Warehouse. Euro-area monetary aggregates, bank lending, interest rates and the MIR (MFI interest rate) statistics. Useful for placing Ireland in the euro-area context.
- OECD. Economic surveys (the Ireland survey is published every two years), the Economic Outlook for forecasts, and the comparative tax database. The OECD's work on Pillar Two is the primary reference for the global minimum tax.
- IMF. Article IV reports for Ireland (annual) and the World Economic Outlook. The Article IV report is an independent external assessment and is often more candid than domestic publications.
- World Bank & UNCTAD. Cross-country FDI statistics and trade-in-services data. Watch for: FDI stock figures are distorted by intangible-asset transfers and special-purpose entities; use them comparatively, not absolutely.
Research and working papers
- ESRI. The Economic and Social Research Institute publishes the Quarterly Economic Commentary and a substantial working-paper series. The QEC is the most timely independent domestic macro forecast.
- CEPR & VOXEU. Policy-research columns from academic economists; useful for international debate context, including on Irish-specific issues.
- NBER. Working papers, primarily US-focused but with a substantial international macro and public finance strand.
- Irish academic journals. The Journal of the Statistical and Social Inquiry Society of Ireland is the longest-running domestic outlet and a useful record of historical debate.
Market and commercial data
- RTB Rent Index. The Residential Tenancies Board's quarterly index of new tenancy rents. The most reliable rent series because it covers the full population of registered tenancies, not a sample. Watch for: it measures agreed rents at the start of a tenancy, not the entire stock.
- Daft.ie and MyHome.ie reports. Asking-price and asking-rent indices. Useful as high-frequency leading indicators but measure list prices, not transaction prices.
- Property Price Register. Transaction-level residential property prices, published by the PSRA. The raw data is open; aggregate analysis is published by the CSO in the Property Price Index.
Practical notes
Three habits make Irish economic data less treacherous. First, always check whether the series you are using is on a GDP basis or a GNI* basis — the difference is large and the choice matters for any per-capita comparison. Second, watch the revision history: Irish national accounts are revised more often and more substantially than those of most peer countries, because multinational activity is hard to measure in real time. Third, when a single firm's decision moves the aggregate, look for the underlying series that excludes it — the CSO's modified measures are designed for exactly this.
We update this page when sources change or new ones appear. If you think we have missed one, or got a note wrong, please write via the contact page — we credit useful reader submissions.