Roaring concert season does little to sway consumers as value of card transactions dips 

Volume of transactions fell to €6.72bn in June, down from a recorded €7.04bn in the previous month

 Taylor Swift pictured in the Aviva stadium at the beginning of the Irish leg of her Eras Tour. Picture Chani Anderson

The busy concert season and bank holiday weekend did little to incentivise spending, with the value of card transactions in June falling by 4.5%, new figures from the Central Bank of Ireland reveal.

Monthly card payment statistics released by the financial regulator showed the value of transactions fell to €6.72bn in June, down from €7.04bn in the previous month.

The unexpected decline was driven domestically, with value of point of sale (POS) and online payments falling by 4.33% and 4.83% respectively.

Domestic POS transactions declined by €167m from €3.86bn in May to €3.69bn billion in June, the regulator said, with domestic online payments falling by €154m to €3.03bn in June.

However, the Central Bank noted that international POS transactions surged 17.5% to €550m in June as consumers travelled abroad during the peak holiday season. 

While card payments fell overall, spending in restaurants, bars/pubs and hotels remained strong during the concert season, the regulator said, with spending in all three sectors increasing on a monthly basis. 

Restaurant spending increased by 9.8% to €243.02m annually, while the value of spending in bars and pubs grew by 5.8%. 

However, Hotel spending gained the least out of all three sectors, only increasing by 0.9%.