The Irish Times view on consumer rights in Ireland: transparency in pricing vital
In a blizzard of promotional promises it can be difficult for the public to assess if deals on the table are real, or if the figures have been massaged to exaggerate the scale of the bargains.
Sales pricing legislation introduced in 2022 requires traders to base discounts on the lowest price over a 30-day period before a sale begins and to display that lower price clearly - in essence it stops retailers hiking prices briefly in the run-up to a sale, before slashing them to suggest bigger savings.
The early tests of the legislation have found some retailers wanting. Last week in the Dublin District Court,
Boots admitted breaching the legislation
following an online pricing sweep conducted by the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) in November 2023.
READ MORE
That sweep pinpointed three products that were listed as being on sale at prices that were either higher or at the same level as they had been at in the days leading up to a Black Friday sale. In erring in such a fashion, the pharmacy joined Lifestyle Sports, DID Electrical and Rath-Wood Home and Garden World who were before the courts in March.
Boots expressed regret for the pricing anomalies which they attributed to human error and pointed out that the products represented a minuscule fraction of what was on promotion at the time the CCPC conducted its investigation. And no doubt this was indeed the case.
While the transgressions were limited in scale, the CCPC deserves credit for taking the actions which should serve as a warning to others. The shops will no doubt wish they had not made headlines in such a fashion but ultimately, they and other retailers as well as consumers will benefit from the knowledge the system is slowly becoming more robust and more transparent.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Irish Times
2 hours ago
- Irish Times
Tottenham closing in on £55m deal for Crystal Palace forward Eberechi Eze
Tottenham Hotspur have stepped up their pursuit of Eberechi Eze by holding further talks geared towards signing the England forward. However, it is understood Crystal Palace want to line up a replacement before sanctioning his sale. Spurs, who confirmed the contract extension of captain Cristian Romero on Monday, are longstanding admirers of Eze, having made a move for him last summer. They are even more keen to get him now that James Maddison is out with an anterior cruciate ligament rupture. Dejan Kulusevski, another of the club's key attacking midfielders, is out with a knee problem. Eze is represented by the influential CAA Base agency, which has close links to Spurs, and he is open to the transfer. The 27-year-old forward has also been tracked by Arsenal , the club he supported as a boy and played for during his formative years. Eze's contract at Palace contained a £68 million (€78.8 million) release clause, but it expired last Friday. Spurs hope to get him for around £55m plus bonuses. Eze's previous club, Queens Park Rangers, are entitled to 15 per cent of any profits that Palace make on him. Palace paid around £19m to QPR for the player in 2020. READ MORE Romero has re-signed at Spurs until 2029 and it represents something of a turnaround for him after he was linked with a move away at the start of the summer. The Argentina centre-half has made no secret of his ambition to one day play in Spain and he was of interest to Atlético Madrid. But having been given the Spurs captaincy after the departure of Son Heung-min to Los Angeles FC, the 27-year-old has re-emphasised his commitment. Right-back Djed Spence has also signed a new long-term contract with the club. [ New Tottenham 'Hotspaw' pet partner leaves Spurs fans howling with frustration Opens in new window ] Palace, meanwhile, have targeted Leicester's Bilal El Khannouss and Christos Tzolis of Club Brugge as potential replacements for Eze. The club are believed to have failed with an initial offer of £20m for El Khannouss, whose release clause expired at the weekend, with Leicester thought to want around £26m for the Morocco forward. Palace have also made an offer of £25m for Tzolis, a Greece international who spent three seasons at Norwich. [ 'When it comes to supporting club football, Liverpool don't really count as an English team' Opens in new window ] Manager Oliver Glasner said he expected Eze to play for Palace in the Conference League playoff first leg against Fredrikstad at Selhurst Park on Thursday. If he did, he would still be able to play for another team in the league phase of European competition this season. Marc Guéhi is also expected to feature on Thursday as Liverpool have yet to match Palace's £40m valuation of the England defender, whose contract expires at the end of the season. Guéhi is understood to be willing to stay at Selhurst Park and leave on a free transfer although the Palace chairman, Steve Parish, has admitted that he would prefer to sell the 25-year-old this month. [ TV View: Tough day at the office for Keith Andrews, but don't expect sympathy from Roy Keane Opens in new window ] Palace had considered the Sporting Lisbon defender Ousmane Diomande as a potential replacement for Guéhi but the 21-year-old is expected to be out for six weeks with a muscle injury and is unlikely to move this window. Palace have also shown an interest in Jakub Kiwior, but the Poland defender is believed to prefer to move overseas having been left out of Arsenal's squad for the game against Manchester United on Sunday. Porto are in talks over a season-long loan for Kiwior with an obligation to make the move permanent at the end of the season.
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
Dundrum Town Centre owners appeal council refusal for outdoor food concessions
Dundrum Town Centre's owners have appealed a decision by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to refuse retention permission for long-standing food truck concessions at the front entrance to the retail complex. Drundrum Town Centre, which is jointly owned by UK real estate firm Hammerson and German insurer Allianz, has had a number of food trucks located in the town square for 'a number of years'. The centre was issued with a warning letter by the council and submitted a retention application in an effort to 'regularise' the planning status of the food concessions. 'The use of the space for the purposes detailed in this application have been in operation for a number of years and has been successful in enlivening the square,' reads the application which was made by Dundrum Retail Gp Dac on behalf of the town centre's owners. READ MORE The group said there were three food concessions in place when the application was made, citing its contribution to initiatives by the county council to 'increase footfall throughout the day and into the evening'. [ Hammerson's Irish chief Connor Owens decamps to rival Opens in new window ] The retention application to Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council was made in May 2025, with the council refusing permission in July. In rejecting the application, the council said that the proposal would create a 'customer-focused environment, prohibiting the making of a space dedicated to pedestrians and the general public'. 'To permit a continuation of such use at this location would further commercialise an area of public realm, negatively impacting its ability to act as a distinct focal point between Pembroke Square, Dundrum Town Centre, DLR Mill Theatre, and Sandyford Road.' The council said that the site in question was 'one of few public spaces in the area' and that allowed the continued use of the area for a commercial use would limit its use for 'informal gathering, meeting, and outdoor recreation'. It found that locating food trucks and stands in the area would go against its policies for the development of the location. Local residents who objected to the continued use of the square by food trucks cited concerns around fire safety as well as 'serious health, hygiene, and safety risks'. Following the decision, Dundrum Retail Group has submitted an appeal to An Coimisiún Pleanála (ACP) and a decision is due in December.
Irish Times
3 hours ago
- Irish Times
Markets subdued ahead of Trump meeting
European shares were subdued on Monday, ahead of key meetings between Ukraine, European leaders and US President Donald Trump, following a Russia-US summit that ended without an immediate agreement. Mr Trump met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Friday and agreed that a peace deal should be worked upon without a ceasefire. Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelenskiy will meet Mr Trump along with other European leaders in a bid to draw out a peace deal that will not favour Moscow. Dublin The Dublin market got off to a poor start to the week, ending the session down 0.46 per cent as financial stocks dipped lower and constructions stocks were mixed. READ MORE Bank of Ireland was 1.25 per cent lower, falling to €13, while AIB was off almost 0.7 per cent, closing at €7.30 after hitting a low of €7.14 earlier in the day. Permanent TSB shed 0.4 per cent by the close of the session, while insurer FBD was up to €14.25, some 0.7 per cent higher. Insulation specialist Kingspan lost 0.3 per cent, while Glanbia shed 1.4 per cent. Airline Ryanair was down almost 0.5 per cent to finish the day at €26.63. London Britain's FTSE 100 closed higher on Monday, propelled by gains in healthcare and defence stocks. The blue-chip FTSE 100 finished 0.2 per cent up after dipping earlier in the session. However, the benchmark was still well below Friday's intraday record high. The midcap FTSE 250 ended little changed. Heavyweight healthcare shares primarily drove Monday's advances, rising 1.2 per cent. Aerospace and the defence sector began the week on a strong footing, advancing 1.2 per cent, with Babcock International Group jumping 5.3 per cent after brokerage firm RBC Capital Markets initiated coverage at 'outperform' rating. Among single stocks, bootmaker Dr Martens gained 8.5 per cent after brokerage firm Peel Hunt upgraded the stock to 'buy' from 'add'. Europe The pan-European Stoxx 600 index closed 0.1 per cent up, after logging a second straight weekly gain on Friday. Europe's index tracking aerospace and defence stocks was up 0.7 per cent, after falling in the last session. Most sectors on the benchmark Stoxx were lower, with a 1.6 per cent and 0.5 per cent decline in miners and heavyweight banks weighing the most. Novo Nordisk jumped 6.6 per cent after the drugmaker's weight-loss drug Wegovy received an accelerated approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat a serious liver condition. Separately, it announced it was offering its diabetes drug Ozempic for $499 per month to eligible patients in the U.S. Other renewables also gained, with EDP Renonvaveis surging 6.2 per cent, while Orsted and RWE both gained 1 per cent each. Commerzbankfell 3.2 per cent, the most among banks, after Deutsche Bank downgraded the stock to 'Hold' from 'Buy'. New York Wall Street's main indexes were subdued on Monday, in a quiet start to a week packed with corporate earnings reports from major retailers and the Federal Reserve's annual symposium in Jackson Hole. Investors will closely monitor reports from Walmart, Home Depot and Target among others, which are expected this week, to determine how trade uncertainty and inflation expectations have affected US consumers. At 11.43am. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was little changed, as was the S&P 500. The Nasdaq Composite lost 40.51 points, or 0.18 per cent, to 21,582.97. Six of the 11 S&P 500 sectors edged lower, with communication services in the lead with a 0.9 per cent fall, weighed by Facebook parent Meta's 2.7 per cent slide. On the trade front, the Trump administration widened the reach of its 50 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium imports by adding hundreds of derivative products to the list of goods subject to the levies. Dayforce jumped 26.9 per cent after a report said PE firm Thoma Bravo is in talks to acquire the HR management software firm. Solar stocks such as SunRun rose 6.7 per cent and First Solar gained 9.2 per cent after the US Treasury Department unveiled new federal tax subsidy rules for solar and wind projects. – Additional reporting: Reuters
