By Eamon Quinn and Paul Hannon DUBLIN—Ireland’s economy contracted sharply in the final three months of last year, and much more modestly in 2013 as a whole, an indication that the nation’s recovery from its interlinked government debt and banking crises is likely to be prolonged. • Breaking-news alerts: Get free email alerts the instant news breaks The government formally exited a three-year international rescue program funded by the European Union and International Monetary Fund at the end of 2013 but now needs the economy to grow rapidly for many years if its huge debts are to be reduced. But figures released by the Central Statistics Office Thursday dealt a blow to its hopes, with gross domestic product in the three months to December falling by 2.3% from the previous quarter, and 0.7% from the final quarter of 2012. That was a much weaker performance than the euro zone as a whole, which grew by 0.3% during the quarter. Having contracted from 2008 through 2010, the Irish economy grew in both 2011 and 2012, but contracted again in 2013, by 0.3%. The decline in GDP during the fourth quarter was due to a surge in imports, and reflected the impact on exports of the so-called patent cliff — the expiration of patents on valuable drugs made in Ireland.

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