Bar sales rise but retailers struggle

IRISH people took to drowning their sorrows in a bid to escape the faltering economy and bad weather last month.

Bars saw a slight pick-up in December, jumping by 2%. This was much more than in previous Decembers when sales in 2009 only rose by 0.4%, while they fell in 2008 by 2%. Despite the pick-up last month, however, bar sales are still down almost 10% over 12 months.

Overall consumer spending weakened in December, with the volume of retail sales dropping 1.1% from November. The monthly drop was the biggest since January last year and followed two months of small increases.