Sterling’s recent weakness is proving devastating for large swathes of corporate Ireland, with Merrion Stockbrokers last week announcing it was slashing earnings forecasts for 25 of the top listed companies.

Sterling has weakened by 10 per cent since the year end, and almost 20 per cent since last September. It had traded for the past five years in a band of 66p-70p to the euro. Merrion, which is reducing its earnings forecasts by an average of 1.9 per cent for 2008 and 2.8 per cent in 2009, is assuming a forward sterling-euro rate of 80p.