Irish Economy: The Central Bank said today in its Quarterly Bulletin that the performance of the Irish economy has deteriorated significantly over the last year as the impact of a sharp correction in the construction sector has spread to most other sectors of the domestic economy and faltering external demand has given rise to a significant moderation in exports. The Bank said that the volume of output now seems likely to contract this year by about 0.8 per cent in GDP terms while GNP is projected to decline by about 1.4 per cent. The weak trend is likely to persist through next year with GDP forecast to decline in real terms by about 0.9 per cent while GNP is expected to decline by about 1.3 per cent.