Ireland Exited Recession in the First Quarter of 2010

Ireland officially left recession, with gross domestic product rising 2.7 percent in the first quarter, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Ireland was the first country in the euro zone to enter recession and its GDP sank 7.1 percent last year.

Gross national product, which excludes the multinational sector widely credited with driving the country's boom in the 1990s, fell 0.5 percent in the first quarter of this year.