The Irish economy is back in recession.
New figures released by the Central Statistic Office (CSO) show the economy contracted by 0.6% in the first 3 months of the year.
It follows a growth decline of 0.2% in the 4th quarter of 2012 after a fall of 1% in the 3rd quarter of last year.
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The CSO says economy has declined now for 3 consecutive quarters.
The figures show the impact that the ending of pharmaceutical patents is having a significant impact on Irish exports which declined during the quarter.
KBC Bank Chief Economist is Austin Hughes. He says the numbers are poorer than expected.
He is also calling on the government to ease back on measures in the Budget for next year.
