Consumers splurged on getting their homes and gardens ready for the summer last month, according to the latest figures from AIB.

An analysis of 60 million credit and debit card transactions last month in the bank’s Spend Trend March 2023 report revealed that consumers spent 4pc more overall in March over the previous month at €97m a day, with the largest monthly increase in spending on home and garden wares at 10pc over February.

While spending on food was firmly at the top of the shopping list at 18pc, spending on health and beauty, clothing, hardware and restaurants came in at second place at 5pc, followed by air travel and hotels at 3pc, pubs and off licences, electronics and home wares at 2pc.

However the fact that the St Patrick’s Day bank holiday fell on a Friday this year revealed that spending at pubs and off licences on the national holiday was up 166pc over Friday March 17, a third higher than the Saturday that followed while the Sunday of the bank holiday recorded the lowest daily spend of the month. The highest daily spend of the month was recorded on Friday March 31.

Men were the most likely to splurge on pubs and off licences at 65pc compared to 35pc of women while those living in counties Cavan and Leitrim lead the country in spending more at pubs and off licences in March with increases of 7pc and 6pc respectively.

The vast majority of people did their shopping online at 36pc, followed by chip and pin spending on debit cards at 33pc, the use of so-called digital wallets at 18pc and contactless payment at 12pc.

Counties Longford and Cavan also reported the biggest increase in overall daily spending at 6pc and 5pc respectively while neighbouring counties of Roscommon and Monaghan recorded the lowest overall increase in spending at 3pc.

People in Co Longford lead the country in the increase in daily spending on air travel at 22pc compared to other counties that saw decreases in their monthly spend on air travel, including Co Monaghan which recorded a 14pc decrease in air travel spending. People under the age of 25 spent 13pc more on air travel in March.

Overall, millennials accounted for the highest overall spend with those aged between 35 and 44 accounting for 26pc of overall spending, followed by those aged between 25 and 34 years old accounting for 22pc of spending, followed closely by those aged between 45 and 54 at 21pc.

Older people and those under the age of 25, spent the least with 55-64 year olds accounting for 13pc of spending, followed by those aged 65 and over accounting for 10pc of overall spending and those under 25 accounting for just 8pc of spending.

John Brennan, Head of SME Banking at AIB said: “As you might expect, St Patrick’s Day was a bumper day for pubs and off licences, with spending up by a third when compared to the next busiest day in March, and up 166pc on the corresponding day in February. Undoubtedly the festivities were welcomed by those in the sector after a quieter period in the first two months of the year,” he said.

“Groceries continue to account for a significant proportion of spending, but the largest increase was in home ware spending, as customers begin to plan for better weather and summer months ahead in their homes and gardens. Digital continues to be the method of choice for customers with the majority of spending online and an almost 7pc increase in digital wallet spend. These data insights are crucial in allowing us to continue to support both our business and personal customers in their choices.”