Retail sales declined by 1.3 per cent in the 12 months to the end of June raising concerns about the momentum of the recovery.
The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office show a 2.8 per cent decline in the value of sales over the year. If motor trade figures are excluded, the annual decrease amounts to 4.8 per cent.
Retail sales declined almost uninterruptedly from 2007 to the end of 2009. In the early months of 2010 a modest rebound was observable, but this lost steam in the second quarter.
Downward revisions to each of the previous five months from January to May give further credence to the interpretation that the underlying position of consumers is one of both weakness and caution.
Of the 13 retail sectors included in the survey, six registered month on month volume declines in June. Furniture and lighting sales suffered the steepest fall, tumbling by 8.9 percent on May.
The latest figures show that the volume of retail sales declined by 0.5 per cent in June when compared to the preceding month but were up 1 per cent on the same month a year earlier.
Motor trade sales rose by 13.9 per cent over the year while clothing, footwear and textiles were up 2.6 per cent.
The value of sales fell 0.7 per cent from May to June 2009. However, if motor trades are excluded, the value of sales was down 1.1 per cent.
Provisional estimates for the second quarter of 2010 show a 3.3 per cent rise in the volume of sales, up 6.9 per cent on the first three months of the year. If motor trade figures are excluded, the volume of retail sales declined by 0.2 per cent year-on-year in the second quarter but were up 1.1 compared to the first quarter.
The CSO originally intended to publish the new sales data next Tuesday but was forced to release the information today instead after inadvertently announcing the figures in a tweet posted on Twitter this afternoon.
In a statement, it apologised for any inconvenience caused and said it had decided to bring forward publication of the data "to ensure transparency and equality of access to all CSO statistical outputs".