IRISH PEOPLE ARE spending more on alcohol and less on clothes, new figures from the Central Statistics Office have shown.

Despite the state of the country’s finances, there was €6.3 billion spent on alcohol last year, up 1.2 per cent on 2011.

That figure makes up over 7.7 per cent of all personal expenditure, which totalled €82.6 billion, in the country, the figures reveal.

Sales of clothing and footwear dropped from €3.1 billion in 2011 to €2.9 billion in 2012, while people also spent less on personal transport, communication and durable goods.

There was also a 0.8 per cent rise in the amount spent on food, a 1.9 per cent rise in the amount spent on non-alcoholic beverages, a 2.5 per cent rise in recreational and educational spending and a 2.6  rise in the amount people are spending on housing.

The sharpest rise is in the amount spent on fuel and power, which rose 7.9 per cent.

Spending on tobacco fell by 2.4 per cent, while miscellaneous spending is down 2 per cent.

Expenditure outside of the state dropped 5.2 per cent, but spending by non-residents dropped 1.5 per cent.

Read: Dublin driving continued growth of property prices

Read: Bus Eireann strike accounted for over 90 per cent of industrial action days lost so far this year