Figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the prices businesses are charged for a range of services crept up in the second quarter of this year.
The CSO's services producer price index was up 0.5% from the first three months of the year, which meant prices were 0.1% higher compared with a year earlier. That was the first annual increase in service costs since 2008.
The CSO says prices for architecture, engineering and technical testing services were down by 8.8% over the year, while prices charged for employment and human resources services dropped by almost 10%. But air transport costs for businesses jumped 10.6%, while sea transport costs were up 7.7%, mainly due to higher fuel prices being passed on.
