The gloomy picture painted by the US Federal Reserve in the statement accompanying this week's rate cut does not provide much comfort for those sectors of the Irish economy exposed to the US, economists say.
According to Mr Austin Hughes, economist at IIB, the statement is the most downbeat yet by the Fed, adding concerns about consumer confidence and global growth to worries about inventory adjustment.
If the Fed's fears are borne out, and the US economy heads into a prolonged period of below-par growth, it will not augur well for US firms located in the Republic.
"It definitely looks like we will have a ropey period going forward as regards the outlook for exports, a period far less benign than we have had," Mr Hughes said.
US multinationals in the Republic can be affected in two ways by the slowdown in the US economy. Cutbacks in investment budgets in the US lead to global retrenchment as overseas investment plans are scaled back, as has already happened with Intel.
But if the US slowdown has a serious knock-on impact on global markets, particularly the European markets on which many Irish-based US multinationals depend, the going could get even tougher.
However, Mr Dermot O'Brien, chief economist with NCB Stockbrokers, cautions against becoming overly pessimistic about the outlook for the Irish economy.
He believes that much of the strong growth in the Republic in recent years has been due to domestic factors such as changing demographics, particularly a shift in the age structure of the population.
"There's plenty of steam left in that process," he says. While recorded GDP figures are likely to slow this year, the economy faces more of a cooling down than a slowdown, he says.
