Manufacturing which includes the key food production and pharmaceutical sectors in Ireland is moving in the right direction again. After some lacklustre results at the end of last year, the AIB Purchasing Managers Index for manufacturing posted a value of 51.3 for last month anything over 50 denotes rising output.

The falling cost of production has helped life many manufacturers but Ireland is in a stronger position than its nearest neighbours, especially the UK.

Oliver Mangan Chief Economist with AIB spoke joined Joe this morning.