Calls for government action as retail sales fall

SALES of cars, petrol and clothes all fell last month, as did sales at the country’s pubs.

A back-to-school month resulted in retail sales falling almost 4% in the last year and are down by 0.8% last month alone, according to the CSO.

Excluding car sales, the volume of retail sales dropped 3.4% in September from a year ago and were 0.2% lower month-on- month.