Dublin, Jun 9 (IANS): Ireland's new car sales decreased by nearly 3 per cent in May year-on-year, but its electric car (e-car) sales continued to grow at a double-digit speed, according to data released by the country's Central Statistics Office.

In May, a total of 7,120 new cars were sold in Ireland, down 2.95 per cent compared with the same month in 2021, Xinhua news agency reported.

Of all the new cars sold in May, 1,527 were electric cars, including 1,077 electric-only cars and 450 plug-in hybrid electric cars, up 25.06 per cent compared with 1,221 electric cars sold a year ago.

In the January-May period, a total of 58,494 new cars were sold in Ireland, up 6.65 per cent year-on-year.

Of all the new cars sold in the first five months, 12,438 were electric cars, including 7,825 electric-only cars and 4,613 plug-in hybrid electric cars, up nearly 71 per cent compared with the same period of 2021.

Electric cars accounted for 21.26 per cent of all the new cars sold in Ireland in the first five months, a year-on-year increase of nearly 8 percentage points.

Ireland plans to increase the number of electric vehicles to 945,000 by 2030. This includes 845,000 electric cars. There were an estimated 45,000 electric vehicles in Ireland at the end of 2021.

The Irish government intends to ban the sales of fossil-fuel cars by 2030 and the use of such cars by 2045.