Supermarkets see best year in five

Supermarkets have had their best year in five years.

Kantar Worldpanel in Ireland shows year-on-year growth in sales of 2.1% in the three months to October.

More people are also choosing discount retailers; Lidl's sales grew by 9.8%. Dunnes came next at 4.7 per cent while Aldi came in third at 4.5%.

Tesco retains its position as the largest supermarket in Ireland, but Supervalu has increased its market share to within just 0.1% of the retail giant.

Sales fell by 4.2% in retailers such as Spar, Marks and Spencer and Centra as well as in cross-border shops.