New figures from the Central Bank show the total value of card payments amounted to €8.1 billion in March, an increase of 8.2% compared to February values.
The volume of card payments also showed a 7.9% monthly increase and reached 214 million in March.
The Central Bank said the total cash withdrawal value increased by 7.4% and accounted for €1.14 billion, with the volume of cash withdrawals reaching 7.9 million during the month.
Today's figures show that the country-average of a card payment transaction value was €36.57 per transaction with small variances across the counties.
Leitrim had the highest average card payment transaction of €51.93, while Meath the lowest at €27.18 in March.
Today's figures also show that the value of contactless card payments grew by 11.1% in March to reach €2.1 billion.
The Central Bank said that retail card spending increased by 9.9% from February to a total of €3.5 billion, with spending on clothing showing the biggest increase of 15% and reaching €365.8m.
But in spite of this increase, retail spending values are still 22.7% lower than their December 2023 peak, it added.
The Central Bank noted that spending on Social and Accommodations increased around St Patrick's Day but remained far from December and Christmas peaks.
Its figures today show that services spending rose by 6.4% and reached a new peak with a near €3.3 billion value. The Central Bank noted that the biggest contributors of the growth were Accommodation and Financial Services, with 9.3% and 8.9% increases respectively.
Meanwhile, spending on restaurants/dining showed a 12.1% value increase in March, while entertainment posted 10% growth. Social spending increased by 9.6% and amounted to €1.1 billion, while card spending on "eating places" rose by 10.6% and by 17% in "drinking places".
Hotel spending was also higher - up by 8.8% on the previous month - today's figures show.
