A dramatic fall in imports of intellectual property and computer services lies behind an unusually large rise in GDP during the third quarter.

New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that GDP grew by 4% in the third quarter of this year, while GNP increased by 3.2% during the same period.

The CSO said that compared with a year ago, GDP was 6.9% higher, while GNP was 10.2% higher than in the third quarter of 2015.

Today's CSO figures show that personal consumption expenditure increased by 0.7% in the three months from July to September.

Capital formation was down 17.8% during the quarter, due to a 61% fall in spending on intangibles, which more than offset a 3% rise in spending on machinery, notably aircraft, and a 4.6% increase in construction.

Net exports increased by 47% during the third quarter compared with the second quarter of this year.

A 23% fall in imports of business services - notably R&D services and intellectual property - has had a large impact on the third quarter figures.

This follows a dramatic surge in intellectual property imports in 2015. The third quarter figures for IP imports are now back around 2014 levels.

Commenting on the CSO figures, Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said: "These figures are the first estimate of growth in the Irish economy since the Brexit referendum.

"They show that the immediate impact from Brexit has been more benign than initially anticipated. However, we cannot be complacent.

"The best way to deal with such risks is through competitiveness oriented policies and prudent management of the public finances. That is what this Government has been doing. That is what we will continue to do."

The CSO also said today that the current account balance of payments is now at an all time high of 14.7%.

The country's economic growth rate is forecast to be the highest in the European Union for a third successive year in 2016.

But economic data were mixed in the three months after Britain voted in June to leave the European Union, a major risk to the Irish economy as the UK's nearest neighbour.

The relevance of using GDP to measure the true health of the Irish economy was called into question in July when growth for 2015 was revised up to 26% after a massive revision to the stock of capital assets.

Many economists prefer to use employment as a gauge of how the economy is faring and Irish employment continues to grow strongly.

The jobless rate fell to 7.3% last month, despite consumer sentiment weakening and robust retail sales growth slowing down.

Before last year's revisions, Irish economic growth had still significantly outpaced the rest of Europe since its completion of an international bailout in 2013.

It will do so again if the Government meets its forecast for expansion of 4.2%.

Earlier this week, new figures from Eurostat showed that growth in the euro zone economy kept to a steady pace in the third quarter.

Euro zone GDP by 0.3% in the three months to the end of September - on a par with the growth recorded for the second quarter of the year. On an annual basis the euro zone's economy grew by 1.7%.