The Dublin market closed up 40 points after a day of very weak trading.
The low volume of business was put down by traders to the absence from the market of European investors due to today being a holiday in many Continental European countries.
The main movers of the day were C&C, which saw its share price rise more than 10 per cent, and Smurfit Kappa, which saw its share price fall by more than 7 per cent.
European stocks as a whole advanced for the first time in three days as takeover speculation lifted shares of UK retailers and an oil discovery in the North Sea boosted the profit outlook for energy companies.
US stocks also gained, rebounding from the first weekly drop in a month, as a retreat in oil prices boosted consumer shares and the world's largest bond insurer said it has enough cash to cover the securities it guarantees.
Additional reporting Bloomberg
