Ireland had the lowest inflation in the EU between 2007 and 2011 but prices remain high by EU standards, according to official statistics on Wednesday.

Ireland was the fifth most expensive EU state in 2011, after Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Luxembourg, with prices 17 percent above the EU average, according to the report named Measuring Ireland's Progress 2011, published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

However this represents a considerable improvement on 2008 when Irish prices were the second highest in the EU, at 30 percent above the EU average, the report said.

After three successive years of falling GDP, Ireland recorded a positive GDP growth rate in 2011 of 1.4 percent, it said.

However, its public balance deficit was the highest of any EU member state at over 13 percent of GDP, while government debt increased to over 108 percent of GDP, having been at only 25 percent of GDP in 2007.

Ireland's employment rate was below the EU average, and its unemployment rate was the fifth highest rate in the EU, it added.