The latest figures from the Central Bank show that the amount of money lent into the economy continued to fall last month.
The Central Bank said that residential mortgages fell by €19m in December. This means that the amount being re-paid on existing mortgages was more than the amount given out in new mortgages
A total of €147.7 billion was outstanding in mortgages by the end of December, the figures show.
The figures show that private-sector credit fell by almost €1.2 billion in December, as the banks wrote down bad loans and increased provisions for bad debts and as a result of exchange rate effects.
Today's figures also show that total repayments on credit card debts were somewhat lower than new spending in December, in contrast to the trend evident during most of 2009.
