Economist Austin Hughes, who oversees the compiling of the index, said this month’s survey paints a picture of a nervous Irish consumer whose thinking has become materially more negative of late. This suggests that this month’s sentiment reading might be interpreted as a marked downgrade rather than a complete collapse in Irish consumer confidence. This month’s reading marks a big turnaround from an improvement that resulted in an 11-month high in last month’s sentiment survey. This month’s index shows a large ­deterioration in consumers’ expectations for their financial circumstances over the next 12 months. This element of the survey declined to its weakest point since March 2022 when Russia’s invasion of Ukraine threatened a marked escalation in living costs for Irish consumers, Mr Hughes said.

Source: Irish Independent March 27, 2026 16:02 UTC