The volumes of retail sales increased by 0.3% in September compared to the previous month, and were up 8.6% on September 2014.

The figures from the Central Statistics Office show that the sectors with the largest month-on-month volume increases were 'other retail sales' (+1.9%), non-specialised stores (+1.2%) and fuel (+0.6%).

Meanwhile, there were drops in the areas of furniture and lighting (-2.6%), food beverages & tobacco (-2.2%), and bars (-1.6%).

Excluding motor trades, there was an increase of 0.7% in the volume of retail sales in September when compared with August 2015 and there was a rise of 8.0% in the annual figure.

However, the value of retail sales fell by 0.1% from August to September, while there was an annual increase of 4.9% when compared with September 2014.

If motor trades are excluded for this metric, there was also a monthly decrease of 0.1% in the value of retail sales and an annual increase of 4.1%.

Commenting on the figures Investec economist Philip O’Sullivan said: “Data for the 13 different segments of the retail market reveal a broad improvement, with all posting annual growth in volume terms, led by discretionary sectors such as Furniture & Lighting, Clothing & Footwear, Electrical Goods, Motor Trades, and Department Stores.

“In value terms, 10 of the 13 sectors recorded annual growth, but at least two of these (Food, Beverages & Tobacco and Fuel) reflects commodity price weakness as opposed to any ‘Irish specific’ issues.

“For some time now we have argued that 2015 will be the strongest year for Irish retailers since the demise of the Celtic Tiger, with these data providing no reason to alter this assessment,” he added.