Irish new vehicle licenses fall 44 percent in June

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland licensed 6,614 new vehicles in June, 43.8 percent less than a year earlier, with the number of new goods vehicle licenses falling 63.7 percent, data showed on Monday.

A precipitous fall in car purchases has depressed Ireland's retail sales this year, with data for May released on Friday showing the volume of retail sales down 15.4 percent from a year ago, driven by an almost 40 percent fall in motor trades.

There were 4,833 new private cars licensed last month compared with 7,369 in June 2008, the Central Statistics Office said. The number of new goods vehicles licensed fell to 1,025 from 2,827.

Licensing figures refer to the number of vehicles taxed for the first time for road use.

(Reporting by Andras Gergely, editing by Mike Peacock)