Businesses in the hospitality sector, including restaurants, pubs and hotels, recorded a surge in spending on St Patrick's Day, according to dats from AIB.

Hotels recorded over 50,000 transactions on the day while pubs made 345,000 transactions on 17 March, compared to 28,000 four days later on 21 March, the quietest day of the month.

Restaurant also had a busy Paddy's Day, but saw the most trade on 26 March, the day after pay day for many workers, with 25 March registering as the biggest day for consumer spending.

John Brennan, head of SME banking at AIB, said: “For the first time in two years we were able to celebrate St Patrick’s Day in person as is evident by consumer spending across the hospitality sector on the day. The hotel and pub trades recorded their busiest day of the month as consumers flocked to enjoy the national holiday with family and friends."

Consumers spent around €80m per day through March as spending increased 2% month-on-month.

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Digital wallet payments increased 8% to €10m per day as cashless features continued to grow in popularity.

Ecommerce was down 1% as people continued to return to bricks-and-mortar stores, while airline spending was also down 10% from February. Spend on clothing (+5%), hardware (+10%), homewares (+5%) and health & beauty (+1%) were all up.

The data was compiled from one million anonymised and aggregated card transactions effected using AIB cards.

Consumers delaying large purchases - Deloitte

Elsewhere, Deloitte's State of the Consumer Tracker has found that the number of people delaying large purchases has increased five percentage points in the past month to 52%, and the proportion of those concerned about the cost of living is up four points to 86%.

More than 40% of those surveyed are extremely concerned that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will impact their everyday lives, with a further 27% showing moderate concern.

"This is the first tracker where the full impact of the war in Ukraine is evidently affecting consumer sentiment, along with both purchasing power and spending decisions," said Daniel Murray, Deloitte partner and head of consumer services.

“Two in three people plan to spend on leisure travel in the next four weeks – which should benefit the domestic economy – and one in five people plan to buy a car in the next six months.”

The tracker is based on a survey of 1,000 consumers, conducted from 24-30 March.

The number of people optimistic that the financial situation will improve within three years dropped by five points to 43%. Perceptions that prices are increasing have risen across the board.

(Pic: Getty Images)