The price of groceries in Ireland has fallen - but houses are spending more on their weekly shop.

While prices fell, the overall value of the grocery market has increased by 2.2% during the past quarter compared with last year, making the sector worth €2.37bn over the three months to the end of May.

SuperValu remains Ireland's most popular supermarket, while Tesco has moved back into second place, edging-out Dunnes.

David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel, commented: "With the average price per pack falling slightly, growth has been driven by households buying extra items, with the average shopping basket increasing in size.  Retailers’ own brands continue to lead the way, growing sales by 3.8% and accounting for 54% of grocery purchasing.

"Among the retailers, SuperValu remains in the top spot with a clear 0.5 percentage point lead over Tesco in second place.  Sales at SuperValu have increased by 1.2% as shoppers added more items to their trolleys, spending an additional €1 on average per trip compared with this time last year."

German retailers aslo made gains: "Meanwhile Lidl and Aldi have also enjoyed strong performances during the past 12 weeks.  Growth for Lidl has accelerated to 2.7% with Aldi boosting sales by 4.0%.

"Lidl now captures 11.4% of the grocery market, with Aldi just behind with an 11.2% share.  Both retailers have benefited from shoppers visiting them more often, with Lidl seeing almost one additional trip per shopper over the past 12 weeks."