April saw a fall in the volume of retail sales, the first fall since September of last year, Central Statistics Office figures show.
There was a drop of 0.4% in April from March.
However, the figure was still 2.5% ahead of the same month last year.
The value of sales also saw a decrease in April of 0.2%, though there was an annual increase of 3.2%.
Department stores' sales decreased in April, but bar sales saw a large drop in value of 5.3% as compared with the previous month.
However, motor sales showed a rise.