CONSUMER CONFIDENCE remained steady in May, but concerns persist about the current climate, new research has shown.

The KBC Ireland/ESRI consumer sentiment index recorded a level of 65.3 in May, compared to 65.6 the previous month. The index hit a record low of 39.6 in July 2008.

The index of current conditions moved lower during the month, but the expectations index was unchanged at 53.7 despite the ongoing concerns about Ireland’s public finances and recent bad news for the labour market.

“Although there was some improvement in consumers’ perception of the outlook for the economy and the labour market, consumers remain concerned about the outlook for their household finances over the next 12 months,” ESRI’s David Duffy said yesterday.

KBC Ireland’s Austin Hughes said it was slightly surprising that Irish consumer sentiment hadn’t weakened noticeably last month.

Consumers remained cautious, he added, but there were indications that they were seeing signs of the economy stabilising and possibly improving.

“The broadly steady reading for May contrasts with a much gloomier mood among consumers in most European countries,” Mr Hughes said.

“In part, this is because Irish consumers already know how painful budgetary adjustments can be on the pocket whereas in other countries, the meaning of austerity is only now starting to dawn on a very worried population.”