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Agriculture had the fastest growing workforce over the last five years, a new report has found.
The national competiveness report said that the agricultural workforce increased by just over 25%.
The number of jobs increased significantly also, with an extra 20,000 jobs in the sector.
Brexit
The report, which is carried out National Competitiveness Council, also states that there were positive increases in the agricultural sector, with a rise of 6.4%.
However, the report warns of the negative impact the UK's decision to leave the EU will have on the Irish economy.
"While Ireland's dependence on the UK as an export destination has declined in recent decades, it remains our single largest market in the EU, and both economies are highly interlinked."
Fastest growing economy in the EU
The report also described the current state of the Irish economy as robust and is the fastest growing economy in Europe for the second year in a row, growing at a rate three times faster than major trading partners, according to estimates by the CSO and Eurostat.
Following annual GDP growth of 1.4% and 5.2% in 2013 and 2014 respectively, initial estimates indicate that the Irish economy remains the fastest growing economy in Europe with GDP increasing by 7.8% year-on-year in 2015, and by 5.7% in GNP terms.
However, it does add that Brexit is likely to have "negative ramifications for Irish growth rates in 2016 and beyond."
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