The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show sales in electrical stores were up 2.8% in September.

Overall retail sales increased by almost 1% last month compared with August.

The month of September saw a slight increase in retail sales in Ireland up 0.9% on August.

Switchover boost

The biggest increase was in the bar trade which saw sales up by 4.5% on August.

But the switch from analogue to digital TV meant that  electrical retailers also benefited with their sales increasing by 2.8%.

The largest monthly decreases were in books and stationary down 10% as most students would have purchased those goods in August.

The figures also show some small signs of recovery in the retail sector because when you exclude motor trades, retail sales actually increased 2.2% in the past 12 months.