The finance Minister says that ‘accurately measuring illicit activities is difficult’.

Ireland is measuring drugs and prostitution for its next set of quarterly GDP figures due at the end of this month.

The Central Statistics Office will include the figures as part of an EU-wide strategy to make national accounts more comparable.

Last month, the UK statistics office calculated that illegal drugs and prostitution provided a £10 billion boost to the UK economy.

Speaking about how these figures are calculated, Minister Noonan said:

“Statisticians use any available data that can produce a repeatable estimate for these activities over time.