Strong growth in the Irish service sector was sustained during August with the latest AIB PMI® survey data marking exactly two-and-a-half years of successive monthly improvements in business activity, new business, and employment. Demand resilience in the sector continued to bolster these increases. Indications of a potential deceleration in market conditions were highlighted by a slight slowdown in the rates of expansion in output and new orders, however. Elsewhere, wage pressures continued to drive a rapid increase in input costs, but one that was the weakest in 28 months.