After a quiet January, Irish people were keen to return to socialising with spend in pubs up by almost a third (32%) and spend in restaurants up 16% in February, when compared with the previous month, according to the latest AIB Spend Trend.
The data was compiled from almost 67 million card transactions carried out by AIB customers in store and online during February 2025. AIB believes the boost in spend was likely driven by the St Brigid’s Day long weekend, the Six Nations rugby matches and the end of Dry January.
Saturday 1 February was the busiest day for spending so far this year in pubs, which was also the day of the highly anticipated Ireland versus England rugby match in the Aviva Stadium, Dublin. The biggest increase in spending in pubs was in Cavan (42%), Monaghan (38%) and Wexford (37%).
"It’s very welcome to see overall spending up 5% in February and such strong spending across a number of sectors in February, particularly the hospitality sector which would have had a quiet January after the Christmas festivities," said Adrian Moynihan, head of consumer at AIB.
"Rugby fans enjoying Ireland’s Six Nations success provided a great boost to the industry, along with the bank holiday weekend at the start of the month."
