The number of visits to Ireland from the United Kingdom fell again in the three months to June, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office.

Trips by British residents fell by 6.4% to 949,200 during the period, continuing a trend that began shortly after the UK’s vote to leave the European Union.

Since the Brexit vote last June, the number of UK visits to Ireland has steadily fallen.

Sterling has lost around 15% in value against the euro since the Brexit vote, making Ireland considerably more expensive for British visitors.

Last June - before the vote - one euro was valued at £0.7649, before rising to nearly £0.86 within two weeks.

April-June 2017 Source: CSO

During the first three months of the year, 796,000 British visits here were recorded, compared with 851,000 for the same period in 2016.

Overall, the CSO figures show visitor numbers to Ireland were 6.6% higher in the second quarter, rising 6.6% to 2,769,400.

Trips by residents of European countries other than the UK increased by 10.1% to 1,022,000, while visits from residents of North America were 20.9% higher at 628,900.

Tourism Ireland welcomed the overall growth figures and commenting on the fall in UK visits, CEO Niall Gibbons said: "As anticipated, the currency challenge for Irish tourism is very real and the drop in British visitor numbers (-6.4%) for the January to June period reflects that.

"The decline in the value of sterling has made holidays and short breaks here more expensive for British visitors; and economic uncertainty is undoubtedly making British travellers more cautious about their discretionary spending.

"This is impacting on travel to Ireland. Therefore, competitiveness and the value for money message are more important than ever in Britain right now."