Irish-based management consultancy firms charged 22 per cent more in the first quarter of this year for their services compared with the same period in 2025, according to newly released Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures.
The statistics body’s latest services producer price index (SPPI), which measures the prices that services businesses charge other businesses as well as consumers, rose by 1.3 per cent in the 12 months to the end of March.
However, services producer prices fell by 2.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2026 compared with the final three months of last year, the CSO said.
The most notable annual increase in prices charged was in the management consultancy subsector, where prices rose by an average of 22 per cent compared with the first quarter of last year.
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Travel services prices, including the prices charged by tour operators and travel agencies, jumped by 14.2 per cent over the same period, according to the data.
The largest decreases were observed in the telecommunications services subsector, where average prices charged fell by 10.7 per cent, and warehousing and transportation, where prices fell by 5.9 per cent over 12 months.
The SPPI measures the change in the trading prices charged by the wide-ranging services sector, which employs the vast majority of people in the Republic.
An important measure of inflation, the index covers services provided to all users, including other businesses as well as final users, or consumers and households.
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The CSO’s latest SPPI covers the first three months of 2026 and likely does not capture the full effect of the US-Israeli war on Iran on general inflation levels over recent months.
Ireland’s services sector shrank in April, according to AIB’s most recent purchasing managers’ index for the sector, published last month.
The index, which is based on a survey of some 400 services businesses, indicated that soaring fuel, freight and energy costs contributed to an overall dip in activity levels in the early weeks of the second quarter.
“Economic uncertainty, higher costs and geopolitical tensions were cited as key drivers of the downturn in April,” said AIB chief economist David McNamara at the time.
“The volume of outstanding work also fell for the first time since January, amid generally weak demand conditions. The war in the Middle East and resulting supply chain disruptions contributed to cost pressures.”
