The volume of retail sales rose by 12.6% between June and July, driven largely by new car sales as the year's second registration period for the sector kicked in.
New car sales figures have experienced a significant boost in July each year since 2013, when two separate registration periods were introduced to even out car sales across the calendar year.
When motor trades are excluded, retail sales volume fell by 0.5% between June and July, while there was an annual rise in volume of 2.7% without car sales.
This was the slowest annual growth posted in more than two years for Irish retail sales.
The figures from the Central Statistics Office also show retail sales in July, including motor trades, were 6.3% higher when compared with the same month a year ago.
The sectors with the largest month-on-month volume increases were motor trades (+12.5%), furniture & lighting (+5.3%), and books, newspapers and stationery (+2%).
Whereas clothing, footwear & textiles (-2.5%), other retail sales (-2.4%) and food, beverages & tobacco (-0.9%) all declined.
On the value front, according to the CSO data there was a 4.5% monthly jump for retail sales in July, while the annual rise was 3.9%.
Again, if car sales are excluded when assessing the figures for the value of retail sales, there was a 0.5% fall from June to July, and an annual rise of 0.8%.
