The number of people on the live register dropped slightly in April, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

Seasonally adjusted figures show there were 432,500 signing on in April – at just over 13% – but a drop of 500 on March.

However, the number of people signing on increased by over 50,000 in the year from April 2009.

The CSO has also found that retail sales were up by 3.6 % in March of this year, driven mainly by an increase in car sales.

If car sales are removed from the figures, they show retail sales dropping by 1.2% in March.

But Chief Executive of Retail Excellence Ireland, David Fitzsimons, is hopeful about the future.

“Consumer sentiment is starting to grow again and people are finally kind of realising where they’re at, and how much money they have to spend” he said.

“So I would suggest that Q2 we’re going to see like-for-like parity, and Q3 (and) Q4 we’re actually going to see like-for-like growth”.

“Which means that the retail industry will know where they’re at – and can start planning for the future, a positive future” he added.