Patrick's Day boost sees spending in pubs up 11% 

Spend on groceries grew 6%, helped in large part by Easter weekend

Spending in pubs on St Patrick’s Day increased 11% compared to 2023, with more than €7m spent by AIB customers on March 17, the highest spending day for the sector in the month. 

More than €27m was spent on groceries on Easter Saturday, the sector's highest spend in the month and a 10% increase on the same day last year, according to the AIB Spend Trend data for March. 

Spend on groceries grew 6% in the month overall, with the largest annual increase in grocery spending in Kerry, up 8%, followed by Monaghan and Cavan at 8% and 7% respecitvely.

Spending in pubs on St Patrick’s Day increased 11% compared to 2023, with more than €7m spent by AIB customers on March 17, the highest spending day for the sector in the month. 

Last year, St Patrick’s Day was the highest spending day in 2023 for pubs, with the biggest increase in monthly spending coming from Longford at 24%, followed by Donegal and Leitrim and 24% and 23% respectively.

Spending on electric vehicle charging increased 194% compared with March 2023, up 7% month on month, with 73% of this spent by men. 

Spending in bike shops also increased by 4% on a monthly basis, with 76% of this spend also by men. 

Spending on service stations was also up 7% in the year and 4% in the month.

The monthly data was compiled from 73 million debit and credit card transactions in-store and online during March 2024 and has been anonymised and aggregated. 

Speaking on the data, John Brennan, Head of SME Banking at AIB said, "Spring is in the air with an increase in spend on homewares and clothing as we all look forward to outside living and warmer weather.

Mr Brennan said peaks in spending were largely due to Easter, but welcomed the increased spend on electric vehicle charging, adding that customers "continue to make sustainable choices as we transition to a zero carbon economy."

Overall, Holy Thursday was the highest spending day of the month, with total spending increasing by 2% in the month and 8% annually.

Spend on homewares increased 9%, along with spending on clothes, with spending in restaurants up 5%. 

However, AIB noted that the majority of spend was online, with digital wallet spending up 6%, contactless up 4% and chip and pin spending increasing by 2%.