Official figures show that consumer spending weakened again in September after a slight pick-up in August. The Central Statistics Office said the volume of retail sales fell by 0.9% from August, leading to an annual drop of 0.3%. The volume of sales had risen in August after three months of falls. The falls would have been even bigger without the motor sector, which has been showing increases this year due to the car scrappage scheme. Without cars, sales volumes dropped 0.8% from August, with an annual fall of 2.5%. A breakdown showed that only three of 13 categories of sales showed monthly increases last month - department stores, clothing and footwear and electrical goods. Hardware, paints and glass sales were down 5.4%, while bar sales fell another 2.2%. Bar sales have now fallen by 11.6% over 12 months. Provisional CSO estimates for the third quarter of 2010 show a 0.2% increase in sales volumes compared with the third quarter last year, though there was a 2.3% drop when car sales are excluded. The value of sales, which takes prices into account, fell by 1.2% in September, giving an annual drop of 2.6%.