Today’s national accounts confirm that the economy contracted by one ninth 2009 alone, with GNP, the best measure of Irish economic activity, falling by a record 11.3%.

The final quarter of 2009 was the worst fourth quarter since 2002.

Increased repayments on the national debt were a key driver of the relatively sharper contraction in GNP vis-à-vis GDP, and interest could well double to €5bn in 2010.

The quarterly unemployment figures, published yesterday, and today’s national accounts paint a picture of an economic meltdown in 2009.

Records are being set for all the wrong reasons as the government’s scorched-earth budget and banking policies continue to take their toll on our fragile economy.

Both sets of figures make clear that the collapse in construction continues to weigh heavily on investment, down 28.2% on Q4 2008, and employment. Almost half of the 167,000 fall in numbers at work during 2009 can be accounted for by men losing construction sector jobs.

The government insist that the recession will end by the middle of this year as the economy returns to growth. The economy may technically return to modest growth this year, but real recovery won’t come until we get the country back to work.

Any growth this year is likely to be modest and jobless.

Unemployment continues to climb relentlessly with 1 in 6 people (16.5%) of working age either out of work, or outside the labour force but interested in working. We are in danger of seeing persistent long-term unemployment becoming the ‘new normal’ with young people being worst hit.

Already, the jobs crisis is cutting swathes of social devastation through communities across the country. Behind the economic statistics is a world of pain being suffered by Irish families.