Activity in the services sector rose by 0.5% between June and July, with wholesale and retail trade seeing a 6.1% surge during the month.
According to the data from the Central Statistics Office, the transportation and storage sector also gained (+2.7%), as did accommodation and food services (+0.2%).
However, during July there was a sharp fall in professional, scientific and technical activities (-14.6%), while information and communication (-1.1%) also decreased in the month.
In the year to July growth in the services sector was 0.3%.
On a year-to-year basis, in July accommodation and food service activities were 10.1% higher, while wholesale and retail trade (+8.5%), and information and communication (+5.1%) also rose.
The biggest fallers in the last year were administrative and support service activities (-21.4%), other service activities (-19.8%), and professional, scientific and technical activities (-14.2%).