Retail sales fell by 12.7% in March compared to February, according to the Central Statistics Office.
That is the largest monthly decrease since January 2009.
Bar sales decreased by 53.1% while clothing sales were almost halved at 49.2%.
Car sales were down 30.7% and department stores saw their sales down by a quarter.
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Some sectors saw an increase with the sale of food and drink increasing 17%.
Hardware stores experienced a 13.3% rise and sales in the pharmaceutical sector went up by 8.8%.
Online sales represented 4.3% of the total turnover for all businesses which marks the highest online share since November 2018.
While overall sales in department stores fell by 25.8%, the proportion of sales oneline mroe than doubled from February to March.
