Irish economic downturn likely to be less severe than earlier forecast - minister

The decline in Ireland's economic output in 2020 should be less severe than forecasts released earlier this year, Irish Finance Minister Paschal Donohoe said in a Twitter post.

"While (the) decline should be less severe than envisaged, we have still experienced a significant shock," Donohoe said in a tweet, referring to forecasts from his ministry, which estimate Irish gross domestic product will fall 2.5% this year rather than the 10.5% estimated in April.

(This story corrects headline and text to say minister said economic decline should be less severe than envisaged earlier this year, not than envisaged earlier today)

(Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Leslie Adler)