Irish consumer prices rise again in March

DUBLIN (Reuters) - Ireland's consumer prices rose for the second month in a row in March but were lower than the same period last year, official figures showed on Thursday.

CPI inflation was 0.6 percent higher on a monthly basis, the same rate of price growth as February. But prices were 0.6 percent lower than a year ago, the Central Statistics Office said.

The Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP), which strips out mortgages, was 0.6 percent higher on a monthly basis but was down 0.3 percent from a year earlier.

(Reporting by Conor Humphries; Editing by Alison Williams)