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Thu 03 Mar 2007Economy slows down as housing, exports declineSignals of a slowdown in the economy emerged yesterday with the release of figures which showed a drop for the first time in new house starts and a slide in exports.The number of new houses built in the last quarter of 2006 fell for the first time in 10 years, according to figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO). Separate figures showed that the economy's export performance worsened severely in the same period.