Ireland's economy returns to pre-Covid levels

Ireland's economy has returned to pre-Covid levels.

In its latest quarterly bulletin, the Central Bank's predicting domestic demand to grow by 7.1 percent this year.

It's forecasting roughly 170,000 new jobs to be created through to 2024, and unemployment to fall below 5 per cent in that period.

However it says inflation's now at a 21 year high, at 5.7 percent, due to surging demand, supply bottlenecks and rising energy prices.

But Director of Economics and Statistics at the Central Bank, Mark Cassidy, says the overall outlook's positive.