Ireland's preliminary HICP inflation rate held at 3.1% year on year in July, matching forecasts and staying unchanged from June, indicating that the recent disinflation trend has stalled for now. The HICP is the European Union's harmonised inflation gauge and the benchmark the ECB uses to assess price stability. Separately, Ireland's national CPI reading for July had previously been reported at 3.4%, reflecting differences in methodology and basket weights rather than a contradiction in the data. Inflation has fallen sharply from peaks above 9% in late 2022 but remains above the ECB's 2% target, leaving households, businesses and investors focused on how persistent price pressures could shape borrowing costs and the central bank's next policy decisions.