Ryder Cup tickets and energy costs fuel April spending, says AIB

AIB spend trend found a 7% rise in overall expenditure last month

The spend by AIB customers on event tickets on the launch day of the Ryder Cup was more than seven times the daily average for the rest of the month.

Rising energy costs and demand for Ryder Cup tickets helped drive spending in April, with new data from AIB showing a 7% rise in card payments last month. 

New data released by the lender shows that rising energy costs caused by the Middle East conflict continued to influence spending habits, with expenditure at service stations up 12% compared to the same month a year earlier.

AIB said Monaghan recorded the largest service station spending increase in the last 12 months, up 23%, with Roscommon up 22%. The county with the lowest increase in service station spending over that timeframe was Clare, where the spend rose 3%, while in Limerick it was 7% higher.

Service stations were not the only places where energy cost concerns appear to have driven spending patterns, with the latest AIB Spend Trend also showing that EV charging spend was up 9% compared to the previous month and grew 72% in the 12 months to April 2026.

On Friday, April 10, when fuel protests were underway, the number of road toll payments by AIB customers hit their lowest point of the year so far, at approximately 16,600, reflecting a 37% drop below the average for April.

The data also shows that spending on event tickets was well above average on Friday, April 24, when Ryder Cup 2027 tickets went on sale to residents of the island of Ireland. The spend by AIB customers on event tickets that day was more than seven times the daily average for the rest of the month.

Easter Sunday was the lowest spending day of 2026 so far, with overall expenditure 44% below the average daily level recorded year-to-date. This is a pattern seen most years, with Easter Sunday typically only surpassed by Christmas Day as the quietest day for card spending, AIB said.

However, Easter saw cinemas record their best weekend of the year so far, with peak sales on Saturday, April 4, the day after the release of The Super Mario Galaxy Movie on Good Friday. Despite this, for the month as a whole, spending in cinemas was up just 1% when compared to April of last year.

The data was compiled from 77m card transactions carried out by AIB customers in-store and online during April 2026.

Speaking on the latest spending data by the lender, AIB’s Head of Consumer, Adrian Moynihan, said: “April’s data shows a 7% increase in spending, and once again we saw consumer activity influenced by key events, in this case the rising energy costs. 

"The broader picture points to steady year-on-year spending growth, alongside continued increases in everyday costs like motoring and utilities, as energy prices rise."