Ireland is on course for it’s largest recession in history says ESRI

New research from the ESRI has found Ireland is on course for its largest recession in history even in the best case scenario.

It forecasts unemployment could be anywhere between 15% if Covid-19 is suppressed to under 20% if restrictions are re-introduced.

Kieran McQuinn from the ESRI says if a second lockdown is needed, economic growth will be severely hampered:

“Certainly I think the economy could begin to grow quite strongly, even at the end of next year and into 2022, under the baselines that we have outlined here”

“If you have a second lockdown, then that could be pushed back by another six to twelve months in terms of even the growth rate of the economy, coming back up to where would have expected it to be anyway”.