New figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the volume of retail sales rose by 5.5% in July 2006 compared to the same time last year. There was a monthly decrease of 0.5%.
If motor trades are excluded, the annual increase was 6.7% and the monthly change was a fall of 0.1%.
The figures also show that the value of retail sales increased by 7.4% in July of this year compared to July 2005, and fell by 0.5% in the month. If motor trades are excluded, the annual increase was 8% and the monthly change was a fall of 0.2%.
For the three months from April to June, the largest increase in the volume of sales was in the departments stores, with sales there up 4.8%. The biggest fall in the volume of sales was seen in the motor trade, which slumped 8.5% in the three months.
