The latest data from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) shows that more and more people are buying new cars.

There were 17,054 new private cars licensed for the first time in March - an increase of 48.5% when compared with March 2014.

In the first quarter of this year, there were 52,543 new private cars licensed - a rise of 33.5% compared with the same quarter last year.

But there was a decrease of in used private cars, with a total of 4,492 licensed. This is a fall of 7.7% on the same month last year.

The most popular make of new cars licensed for the first time in March was Volkswagen (2,042), followed by Hyundai (1,849), Nissan (1,843), Toyota (1,499) and Ford (1,401).

There was also a 56.3% increase in the number of new goods vehicles licensed last month - an increase of 897 vehicles.