New figures show that Irish shoppers were less gloomy than those in the US, UK or Germany last month.
The latest KBC Ireland/ESRI consumer sentiment index fell marginally to 53.6 in November from 54.2 the previous month.
The drop comes after a sharp increase in October. It also compares to a reading of 44.8 the same time last year.
However, the survey points out that the underlying trend continues to show a clear, if modest, improvement in sentiment in recent months.
It says the three month moving average rose from 50.8 to 52.5 last month.
