The volume of sales of alcoholic drink in Irish pubs contracted by 7.1% in the 12 months to the end of November, according to the latest retail sales index from the Central Statistics Office.
A contraction in the beer and spirit sales last year had been highlighted by the Department of Finance as one of the reasons why excise duty receipts fell behind their budgeted target in 2003.
The Department had estimated that sales of spirits were down 18% in volume terms and that beer sales were down by 2.5% last year.
Today's figures appear to confirm this contraction. They also indicate that even when price increases for alcoholic drink were added on, the overall takings of Irish pubs fell by 1% last year.
Another area in which sales have been disappointing is the furniture and lighting sector. The volume of sales in this sector was down 11%.
The retail sales index also shows that the volume of sales overall in the economy rose by 1.2% in the year to the end of November. But when the impact of car sales is excluded from the data the increase was just 0.7%.
The value of sales, which takes into account prices of goods, was up 0.1% in November to give an annual rise of 2.9%.
The volume and value figures showed small falls when motor trade sales were excluded. The volume of motor sales in November climbed by 2.3%.
Detailed figures for the three months from August to October show an 8.8% increase in the volume of motor sector sales compared with the previous three months.
