Last year was a banner moment for trips to Ireland, according to recently releases figures from the Central Statistics Office.

Over 7.6 million trips to Ireland were made in 2014 – an 8.9% increase on the total from 2013.

Travel from Britain to Ireland is on the up. Close to half of the 7.6 million trips – over 41% - were made by residents of the UK, a notable increase of 8% from 2013.

The percentage of visits from residents of the US rose at an even greater rate – up 12.9% from 2013 to 1,169,100, or 15.4% of the total.

Trips to Ireland by residents of Germany also saw a significant increase of 15.4% to 557,200.

These figures are a positive indicator, with Tourism Ireland predicting that 2015 will be the biggest year ever for travel to Ireland. 

In 2014, residents of Ireland made 6,514,500 trips abroad.