The number of visitors to Ireland from the UK was up by 1.4 per cent over the year ALAMYIreland’s economy continues to show buoyant growth in the face of weakening consumer sentiment and Brexit uncertainty. According to the latest SME market monitor produced by the Banking & Payments Federation Ireland, households are continuing to increase their spending, with retail sales up 2.1 per cent month on month for April. The federation said that there was also “significant improvement” in the labour market indicators being tracked: year-on-year employment growth was at 3.7 per cent, the largest increase in a single quarter since late 2007. Much of that improvement stemmed from Brexit preparations being completed in the early months of the year, before the withdrawal date was pushed back from March, the research said. Despite this, consumer sentiment fell from a level of 98.8 in…

Source: The Times June 10, 2019 23:01 UTC