Growth in Ireland's recovering construction sector slowed significantly in the first month of 2015.

Ulster Bank's seasonally adjusted purchasing managers’ index for the sector fell to 57.1 in January - down from 63.1 in the previous month.

Any figure over 50 indicates growth - but after a strong 2014 last month's figures show the slowest increase since February 2014.

Simon Barry, Chief Economist at Ulster Bank in the Republic of Ireland commented on the figures, saying "construction activity continued to expand at a solid pace in the early part of the new year."

He continues: "While the loss of momentum in January is striking, the softening needs to be seen in the context of the exceptionally strong growth rates recorded through 2014 from which some pullback was always likely."

January was the 17th consecutive month of expansion. 

The slowdown did not hit all of the sector - job creation remained strong. Positive expectations concerning workloads in coming months have supported increases in employment in the sector.

Optimism was at the second-highest level in the survey’s history.

The strongest monthly increase was in recorded in commercial projects - civil engineering activity rose for the fourth month in a row.

Price inflation is flat - savings from cheap energy costs were wiped out by the weakening of the euro.