Official figures show a strong increase in new car sales last month, as the scrappage scheme continued to benefit the market.
The Central Statistics Office said 13,470 new cars were licensed in February, up just over 15% from 11,707 in the same month last year.
For the first two months of 2011, new car sales are running 22.2% ahead of the same period last year at 27,094.
Of the new cars licensed last month, 3,641 (27%) were petrol and 9,636 (71.5%) were diesel. Toyota led the way with 2,065 new cars, followed by Volkswagen (1,681), Ford (1,295) and Renault (1,266).
The number of new goods vehicles licensed last month was 1,349, down 9.7% from the same month last year.
