Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation Minister Richard Bruton said the figures also show that the preliminary trade surplus for 2015 was €44,015 million, which is the largest surplus on record.

Commenting on today’s figures Minister Bruton said: “At the heart of our jobs plan is building a new sustainable economy based on enterprise and exports. During my time as Minister, we have seen major progress on this, with consistent growth in exports driving a strong employment recovery. Over 135,000 extra jobs have been created since we launched the Action Plan for Jobs in early 2012, with the exporting sectors accounting for almost half of this growth. It is crucial of course that, alongside continued strong performance in exports, the domestic economy continues to grow and continues to create sustainable jobs.  

“Today's figures show a continued positive trend in export figures and this is very welcome. With strong implementation of our plan, I am convinced we can continue to see progress until we achieve sustainable full employment in the coming years.”