"Preliminary estimates for the third quarter of 2012 indicate that GDP increased by 0.2 percent compared with the second quarter of the year," the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said in a statement.

The increase was less than economists' consensus forecast.

Updated figures for the second quarter, covering April to June, revised GDP from zero growth to 0.4 percent.

The first quarter of 2012 was also revised upwards, from a decline of minus 0.7 percent to minus 0.5 percent.

Gross National Product -- which excludes profits made by multi-nationals in Ireland -- fell 0.4 percent in the third quarter, the CSO added.

Net exports declined in the third quarter compared with the second -- by 536 million euros ($706 million) -- but showed an increase of 598 million euros on the same period in 2011.

It is more than two years since the eurozone member agreed to an 85-billion-euro ($112 billion) international rescue programme after the Irish economy had been battered by the global financial crisis and a domestic property bubble.

Dublin has introduced six consecutive austerity budgets involving drastic tax hikes and spending cuts as it attempts to get its economy back on track.