The mood of Irish consumers reached a six year high in September on the back of stronger trends in jobs and property markets.
The KBC Bank Ireland/ESRI consumer sentiment index rose to 73.1 in September from 66.8 in August - its highest level since September 2007.
The index noted that consumers' positive views on the economic outlook exceeded the negative views for the first time since 2006.
But KBC Bank Ireland also cautioned that at least some portion of this month's increase remains vulnerable to concerns about the looming Budget or disappointing economic news.
KCB Bank Ireland's chief economist Austin Hughes that in many respects, this month's reading underlines how weak economic conditions have been in recent years, and how deeply entrenched negative sentiment has been as a result.
''The September reading might be viewed as pointing towards expectations of a 'normalisation' of Irish economic conditions in the next year or so,'' the economist said.
He also said that today's reading reflects an element of catch-up in sentiment in response to improving trends in a range of indicators of late, especially in important areas such as jobs and house prices.
Mr Hughes said that the broad trend coming from the index is that while the fears of Irish consumers are slowing easing, the "feelbad" factor has not yet completely disappeared.
