Christmas shopping sales in Dublin are already up about 7 per cent on last year and the retail boom is expected to continue despite recent hikes in interest rates, according to Dublin City Business Association which represents retailers, property owners and transport companies in Dublin city centre.

"This Christmas we are expecting over 770,000 visits per day into the city centre," said Tom Coffey, chief executive of the association. "December 8th is an indicator for buoyancy of the market at this time of year and we are very pleased with performance so far this season. Footfall and numbers of transactions have been steadily rising since the first week in October and we anticipate that sales will be up around 7 per cent on the same time last year."

Greater disposable income, a great concentration of retailers and a more complex, multicultural customer base are the prime reasons behind the retail boom, according to Mr Coffey.

Traditionally, December 8th was one of the biggest shopping days in the calendar, but with late-night shopping, Sunday openings and full employment, shopping spend is spread more evenly throughout the week, he said.

"To put this in perspective, in the 1960s around 13 trains travelled to the city centre on December 8th - now 90 trains a day travel to the city centre," Mr Coffey said.

The buoyant Irish retail market is in stark contrast to the British market, where investors are bracing themselves for profit warnings from retailers amid mounting evidence of a high-street slowdown in the run-up to the all-important Christmas trading season. Woolworths has already issued a warning that its profits could be halved this year and that like-for-like sales had fallen 6.5 per cent in the 18 weeks to December 2nd.