DUBLIN -- Ireland's gross domestic product grew by 7.8 per cent in the first quarter of the year due to surging exports by multinational corporations, according to official estimates. However, gross national product, a measurement which cuts out multinationals, fell by 1 per cent quarter-on-quarter, the government's Central Statistics Office (CSO) said on Friday. According to the CSO's Jennifer Banim, "the tightening of Covid-19 related restrictions led to lower levels of economic activity for many of the sectors focused on the domestic market." Ireland's government lifted a third pandemic lockdown in May after almost five months of restrictions that were ranked among Europe's harshest by the University of Oxford.