The Irish manufacturing sector recorded its sharpest improvement in business conditions since 2004 in April, according to the latest NCB Purchasing Managers' Index.
The index, which is designed to provide a single-figure measure of the economic health of the manufacturing industry, registered 54.1, from 52.6 in March - comfortably above the 50 mark which signals expansion.
The manufacturing sector has now registered growth in each of the past 32 months, and the pace of expansion in April was well above the average for the current expansionary period.
Commenting on the survey, NCB chief economist Dermot O'Brien said the improvement in the rate of growth in new orders - and export orders in particular - was a significant factor in the recovery.
"Importantly, employment growth has resumed, with the rate of increase at a 15-month high," he said.