CSO launches new Brexit-themed webpage

Statistical agency collates data to better capture impact of Brexit on Ireland

The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has launched a new Brexit-themed webpage to track how Ireland's relationship with the UK is being impacted.

The page, which complements the CSO's Brexit: Ireland and the UK in numbers report from last year, pulls together information on trade, employment, migration and travel.

Similar to the CSO’s “key economic indicators” page, the new page is generated using up-to-the-minute information from the agency’s statbank.

The CSO has also generated 12-month rolling averages for trade and travel statistics, which give a more accurate account of the changes in key metrics on a month-to-month basis.

READ MORE

Goods

In August this year, just under 24 per cent of imported goods in the Republic were from the UK while 13.3 per cent of exported goods went to the UK. Despite the ongoing slump in sterling, the trade data since the start of the year appears largely unaffected.

In 2016, 6.4 per cent of all imports of services were from the UK while 16 per cent of exports of services went to the UK. The UK accounts for a significant amount of the State’s IT exports.

The CSO’s Brexit data suite also contains migration figures, which show that in the 12 months to the end of April, nearly 19 per cent of all emigrants went to the UK while 22.1 per cent of immigrants arrived from the UK.

On the employment front, just under 3 per cent of all persons employed in Ireland in the seond quarter of this year were UK nationals.

Expenditure

Also in the second quarter of 2017, more than a quarter (26.3 per cent ) of all outbound trips by Irish residents were to Britain in the second , while 14.3 per cent of total expenditure by Irish residents on outbound travel was in Britain.

Residents from Britain, meanwhile, accounted for 38 per cent of all overseas trips to Ireland in the third quarter of 2017, and they accounted for 22.1 per cent of all expenditure (excluding air fares) in the second quarter.

“This webpage is a snapshot of the most recent CSO data on the UK for trade in goods, services, employment and migration and for travel to and from Great Britain,” senior statistician Orla McCarthy said. “Over time we plan to add further topics and indicators of interest,” she said.

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy

Eoin Burke-Kennedy is Economics Correspondent of The Irish Times