Ireland's annual inflation fell below the euro zone-wide target of 2% for the first time in almost three years after slowing to 1.7% in March, a flash estimate of the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) showed on Tuesday.

Irish inflation peaked at almost 10% year-on-year in mid-2022 and has fallen steadily over the last 12 months. The Irish central bank forecast last month that it would average 2% for 2024 as a whole before slowing a touch to 1.8% in 2025.

Ireland's core HICP rate, which excludes energy and unprocessed food, slowed to 2.8% in the year to March from 3.2% a month earlier, the Central Statistics Office said. (Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Sachin Ravikumar)