Irish people have a higher disposal income and are spending more per week than seven years ago, according to the latest household budget survey from the Central Statistics Office.
It shows that the average weekly household spend in 2004/2005 was €788.25, a 36 per cent rise compared with the previous survey in 1999/20000.
Over the same period the rise in prices was 15.7 per cent meaning that there was a real increase of approximately 21 per cent in the volume of household consumption .
Unsurprisingly given the house-price boom the amount of money spent on housing as a proportion of total spend showed the largest increase at just under 70 per cent.
The rise in spending on services increased by 55 per cent over the same period while the proportional household spend on drink and tobacco showed the smallest increase at just 7 per cent.
Another notable feature is that the proportions being spent on food; down from 20.4 per cent to 18.1 per cent, and transport; down from 16.4 per cent to 15.7 per cent, have both fallen.
According to the CSO study the average gross weekly household income for the State in 2004-2005 was €989.53, some 48.4 per cent higher than the €666.72 recorded five years earlier.
The disposable Income, estimated after deducting tax and PRSA increased by almost 53 per cent from €551.60 to €842.06 and now represents just over 85 per cent of Gross Income for all households.
Over the same period internet access has grown from 14 per cent of households to 42 per cent and the number of homes with a computer has almost doubled to 56 per cent.
Mobile phone ownership has hit 84 per cent, again almost double the rate five years ago.