The volume of retail sales increased by 6.3 per cent in June compared to the same month last year, according to the latest Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures. This represented a monthly increase of 2.3 per cent.
The CSO said if motor trades are excluded the annual increase was 6.5 per cent and the monthly change was 0.8 per cent.
The value of retail sales increased by 8.5 per cent in June 2006 compared to last year and increased by 2.3 per cent in the month.
But if motor trades are excluded, the annual increase was 8.0 per cent and the monthly change was 0.9 per cent.
In the three-month period from March to May volume figures show that, compared with the three months ending February 2006, the largest increase in the volume of sales was in the departments stores, up 7.6 per cent .
The largest decrease in the volume of sales was in the motor trade which fell by 3.5 per cent.
