Irish Economy 2009: The Central Bank said today, Ireland is currently experiencing an unprecedented contraction in output, following the earlier unsustainable construction-driven surge in activity, which peaked around the beginning of 2007. This fall in national output is set to persist this year and next. Exceptionally difficult global economic and financial conditions are making our domestic economic adjustment worse. While the initial downturn in activity was driven by the sharp decline in the Irish property and construction sectors, this has now broadened out into a marked weakening of domestic demand that is being significantly amplified by the fall in export demand as a result of the movement into recession of all our main trading partners.