Love hurts... the pocket: Costs of celebrating St Valentine's Day soar

A bunch of flowers now costs 12.1% more than it did five years ago.

Love may be in the air, but celebrating it on St Valentine’s Day has become a whole lot more expensive in the last few years, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has revealed.

Meals in restaurants, cinema trips, and even flowers, are pricier than they used to be, according to its analysis based on its consumer price index basket of goods, which measures inflation in Ireland.