The biggest rise in spending on groceries was in Roscommon, which showed an increase of 7.4%. Roscommon was followed by Offaly and Louth at 6.6% while at the other end of the scale, the smallest increase was in Clare at 1.4%, followed by Longford at 1.6%.
Internationally, the figures showed some stark changes, including increased spending in the UK by Irish travelers and a massive fall in spending by Irish visitors to the US.
In fact, AIB customers had the highest ever number of transactions in the UK last month. There were 1.4m card transactions by Irish visitors in the UK in August, an increase of 11% year-on-year.
The UK replaced Spain as the number one destination for Irish spending, with the value of expenditure by Irish visitors to the UK 8% higher than the previous August.
There was no change in spending in Spain between August 2024 and August 2025, AIB said. The top five countries in the month for AIB spending was the UK (23.4%), Spain (22.8%), France (7.9%), Portugal (6.8%) and Italy (5.9%).
In the US, spending by AIB customers fell by almost a fifth (18%) for August this year when compared with 2024.
The figures show domestic spending in restaurants and takeaways increased 8%, with 83% of this on premises, and 17% via delivery apps or online.
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The counties with the largest restaurant spend via delivery apps were Dublin (21.9%), Louth (21.1%) and Kildare (17.2%).
The counties with the least via delivery apps were Leitrim (8.4%), Roscommon (9.7%) and Kerry (10.2%).
The figures also showed pub spend decreased by 2%, with 66% of spend by men, while spend in department stores also decreased by 3%, with 64% of spend by women.
US visitors down
Adrian Moynihan, head of consumer at AIB, said: “August is typically a month where people are on holidays and it’s interesting to see spend by Irish visitors to the US has decreased significantly.
“And there is movement in the top two destinations abroad for AIB customers, with the UK topping the list, as evidence of Ireland’s close travel links with the UK.
“This information is vital for businesses, enabling them to plan for both peak and off-peak periods throughout the year to effectively meet their customers’ needs.”
The data was compiled from 85m card transactions carried out by AIB customers in-store and online during August 2025, 5m of which were carried out abroad.
The data has been anonymized and aggregated and features one of the most comprehensive and accurate data sets on consumer spending in Ireland, AIB said.
* This article was originally published on BusinessPlus.ie.
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