Year-on-year sales up 6 per cent
Irish retail sales increased by 6.3 per cent in June compared to the same month last year, according to the Central Statistics Office.

There was a month-on-month increase of 2.3 per cent.

The value of retail sales increased by 8.5 per cent in June against the same period last year and by 2.3 per cent on the previous month.

However, if car sales are excluded, the annual increase was 6.5 per cent and the monthly change was up 0.8 per cent.

During the three months from March to May 2006, volume figures show that, compared with the three months ending February 2006, the largest increase in the volume of sales was in the department stores sector, which was up 7.6 per cent. The largest decrease was in the motor trade sector.