There were no signs of a flagging economy across the State yesterday as the Christmas shopping frenzy began in earnest.
Many shops agreed, however, that trade wasn't as brisk as last year when millions in "mattress money" was offloaded in a hurry before the euro changeover.
Traditionally the day on which people from outside the capital travelled to Dublin to buy presents, December 8th was no different this year, with many families flocking to shopping centres on the outskirts of the city.
There were long tailbacks for motorists trying to get into the Liffey Valley shopping centre in Lucan and finding parking there and at Blanchardstown shopping centres was described as a nightmare.
The manager of Marks & Spencer in Liffey Valley, Ms Jackie Byrne, said the centre was heaving. "You can't get into the car parks. The centre is gridlocked," she said, adding that it had been an "incredible" shopping week in Marks & Spencer stores both in Dublin and Cork.
In Dublin city centre vehicular traffic flowed freely, but pedestrian traffic on Henry and Grafton streets was extremely heavy. Those who tried to rush through the crowds soon discovered it to be an obstacle course of street traders, carol singers and babies' buggies.
Mr Eddie Shanahan, group marketing manager with Arnotts, said he was delighted with yesterday's turnout. "This is as busy as we would expect it to be on this Sunday. This is certainly a very good turnout and there is a great atmosphere," he said.
"We deliberately this year decided to bring back a bit of the magic to December 8th. In addition to complimentary visits to Santa Claus, we have face-painting to keep kids amused while they were queuing and we have a string quartet to entertain customers," he added.
Furthermore, he said, there had been a lot of negative things said about Dublin - about traffic gridlock and so on.
"But as you can see it's worth making the effort to come in. We have 350 car parking spaces here and we've had no problems in the car park today," he said.
Mr Shanahan confirmed there had been a great surge in Christmas shopping over the past week. "We have to stop talking doom and gloom now. The reality is people's standard of living has improved dramatically over the last few years so let's enjoy it through Christmas."
The most popular choice of gifts, he said, have included cosmetics and fragrances, hi-fi and electrical goods, sportswear and women's accessories.
In Brown Thomas on Grafton Street, shop-assistants and tills tried to keep pace with the buying frenzy. Gift vouchers and cosmetics were particularly in demand.
However the general manager of Brown Thomas in Limerick, Mr Maurice McAuliffe, said it would be unrealistic to compare spending this year with last year. "We were busy today, with shoppers out from early morning, but last year was exceptional with people trying to get rid of their punts," he said.
The group customer services manager at Clerys on Dublin's O'Connell Street, Mr Vincent Kelly, agreed. "People were getting rid of mattress money last year before the euro changeover so it was a bumper year. We don't have that this year but business is good," he said.
He said the tradition of country people travelling to Dublin to shop on December 8th had been revived this year because the day fell on a Sunday and many families had decided to make a weekend of it.
AA Roadwatch said traffic in Cork throughout the day was extremely heavy, while in Waterford and Galway it was busy but without major delays.