New figures show a drop in the volume of retail sales in November, though most of the fall was due to weaker motor sales.
The Central Statistics Office said the volume of retail sales fell by 0.6% compared with October, giving an annual rate of growth of 3.9%. Both figures were the weakest recorded so far in 2007.
But the monthly drop would have been only 0.1% if a 4.4% slump in motor sales had been stripped out. This category includes sales at petrol stations as well as cars.
A breakdown also showed a sharp 5.3% decline in bar sales compared with the previous month, though sales in the department stores and hardware, paints and glass categories rose by 3.8% and 5.2% respectively. The CSO figures are adjusted to take seasonal patterns into account.
The value of retail sales, which takes prices into account, was down 0.2% in the month, while there was an annual increase of 6.2%.
Bloxham economist Alan McQuaid said that although the overall spending performance in 2007 was likely to be quite impressive, the downward trend in growth in recent months did not augur well heading into 2008.
Goodbody's Deirdre Ryan said she expected to see further moderation in consumer spending growth in the coming months, though she pointed out that - apart from the motor sector - spending was still 'resilient' in a number of areas.
