DUBLIN: Irish retail sales volumes rose 8.2% year-on-year in December after the temporary reopening of large parts of the economy that contributed to a huge surge in COVID-19 infections and another shutdown by the end of that month.

The largest annual increases were posted in the Hardware, Paints and Glass, Furniture and Lighting and Other Retail Sales categories, which rose by between 18% and 23%. While the volume of bar sales increased almost four-fold compared to November, it represented just over one third of the volume of sales seen in December 2019, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) said.

Ireland has extended the current lockdown, its strictest since the first one last spring, to March 5 and has said it will only lift the measures on a slow, phased basis with non-essential retail likely to reopen ahead of the hospitality sector.