Despite this, the savings ratio - the percentage of disposable income put aside by households - remained unchanged from a year earlier at 17.3%.
The CSO said disposable income fell by 4% to €21.76 billion in the 12 months to the third quarter of 2011. Savings also fell by 3.9% to €3.86 billion.
Savings of non-financial businesses almost halved to €1.8 billion in the 12 months to the third quarter of 2011, mainly due to lower income from property.
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