People in Ireland are spending more money on alcohol despite the financial crisis, official figures for the Republic have revealed.

While many reined in their spending on things like clothing, transport and communication last year, people were less thrifty with booze.

Figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) showed about €6.36 billion was spent on alcohol - up 1.2 per cent from the year before.

That accounted for about 7.7 per cent of total personal expenditure of €82.63 billion on goods and services.

While spending on alcohol, as calculated by the CSO at current market prices, increased each year from 2009, spending on tobacco was down in 2012.

It dropped by 2.4 per cent from €2.2 billion in 2011 to €2.14 billion last year.

PA