Irish Consumer Sentiment Hits 11-Month High

Ireland’s Credit Union Consumer Sentiment Index rose to 65.2 in February 2026 from 64.7 in January, extending gains for a fourth consecutive month and reaching its highest level since March 2025. Consumers’ assessment of current economic conditions edged higher, and expectations regarding unemployment also improved modestly. However, respondents turned more downbeat about their own household finances. Looking ahead, sentiment toward the year-ahead outlook was less pessimistic than in previous months. Economist Austin Hughes pointed to supportive GDP data at the end of 2025, firmer exchequer returns, and confirmation that Novo Nordisk will manufacture its weight-loss pill in Ireland for markets outside the US as positive developments. Still, Hughes cautioned that “the change was marginal and the balance of consumer thinking on the Irish economy remains strongly of the view that the Irish economy will weaken rather than strengthen in the year ahead."