A majority of consumers said they were “disappointed” with attempts to contain the cost of living, according to the latest Credit Union Consumer Sentiment Index for December.
The sentiment index was steady but subdued last month, despite strong economic growth.
Price rises have been blamed for the weakened sentiment.
Consumers are grappling with surging grocery prices, higher energy costs, rises in the cost of petrol, diesel and tolls, along with increases in the cost of motor, home, health insurance and property tax.
No energy credits are to be paid this year, for the first time in three years.
And for the first time in five years there was no change in income tax credits and no widening of the tax bands at the start of this month. This means that people who get a pay rise will end up paying more income tax.
Economist Austin Hughes, who oversees the compiling of the index, said the sentiment index reading was largely unchanged in December compared with the previous month.
But he said it was markedly lower than that recorded 12 months earlier.
The index was at 61.2 in December, effectively unchanged from the 61.0 figure reported for November.
But this was well down from the December 2024 reading of 73.9.
The past year has seen a broadly based downgrade of Irish consumer thinking in relation to economic conditions and their own financial circumstances, he said.
Chief executive of the Irish League of Credit Unions David Malone said: “The subdued December sentiment survey suggests that Irish consumers feel a difficult year is ending with continuing economic and financial challenges at home and abroad.”
The sentiment index found that 72pc say they are disappointed with the efforts to contain the cost of living.
Just 12pc say there has been progress on capping rising costs, with these people likely to be responding to some discounting of staples like butter in supermarkets lately, Mr Hughes said.
Mr Hughes said: “The most negative assessment in relation to 2025 outcomes was in regard to the cost-of-living, with 72pc of consumers expressing disappointment and only 12pc of consumers saying they felt progress in limiting increases in living costs was encouraging.”
Half of consumers view progress in containing living costs as “very disappointing”.
All demographic groups were substantially negative in their responses.
“This commonality of thinking could reflect the particular impact of a marked pick-up in food price inflation in 2025,” the economist said.
Negative views were more widely held by consumers outside Dublin, and by women.
It comes as other supermarkets have been called on to respond after SuperValu slashed prices on hundreds of grocery staples.
The Irish grocery chain has reduced the price on 500 staples by up to 10pc, in what experts said is good news for consumers.
Consumers’ Association chairman Michael Kilcoyne called on rivals Dunnes, Tesco, Aldi and Lidl to react with similar price reductions to SuperValu.