Irish Economy: The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) says in its latest assessment of Ireland's economy, that the Quarterly Economic Commentaries between Spring 2007 and Spring 2009 contained downward revisions to its forecasts, first for 2008 and then for 2009. For this reason, it says possibly the most noteworthy feature of the Summer Commentary is that the forecast for GNP growth in 2009 is almost unchanged from the Spring issue, at -8.9 per cent. For 2010, the institute now expects GNP to contract by 2.3 per cent. It says while this is a downward revision on the Spring forecast for 2010 (which was -1.2 per cent), the broad conclusion to be drawn is that the size of the recession is becoming clearer. The ESRI says the contraction in the economy is expected to continue through this year and into next, with "a very modest rate of growth now expected to emerge in mid-2010." At that time, output will be over 13 per cent below its peak in 2007 and will be lower than the level recorded in 2005. Gross national product (GNP) per head will be back to the 2001 level.