Consumer sentiment was steady for the third month in a row in December as people ended the year in a cautious mood.
The KBC Bank/ESRI Consumer Sentiment Index slipped marginally last month to 53.3 from 53.6 in November.
But the index remained comfortably above the 50.2 reading recorded in December 2008.
The data appears to confirm a clear, if modest, improvement in confidence in recent months.
KBC Bank said while people's spending power remains under pressure, there are tentative signs that consumers believe the worst may be over for the economy even if there is little expectation of a marked improvement anytime soon.
'Consumer sentiment is telling us that 2009 ended on a weak note, but a notably less awful note than it began,' commented Chief Economist at KBC Bank Austin Hughes.
