Ireland is the second most expensive country in the EU

Irish Independent

6 hours ago

They show that Ireland is the second most expensive country in the European Union for typical goods and services.
Prices here are 38pc above the EU average.
We are only behind Denmark when it comes to high prices.
Back in 2015 prices were 28pc above average in this country.
But since then Ireland has been slowly climbing the 'league of shame' when it comes to the cost of living.
The findings from the European statistics agency, Eurostat, will put a new focus on the Government's determination not to pay out universal cost-of-living packages for households in this year's Budget.
Eurostat found that when it comes to alcohol and tobacco, prices in Ireland are the most expensive in the EU.
They are more than double EU average.
Finance expert Daragh Cassidy of price comparison site Bonkers.ie said this is due to government taxation, and more recently, minimum unit pricing on alcohol.
When it comes to alcohol alone, prices here are the second highest in the EU, after Finland.
Our prices are almost 198pc of the EU average, or close to double what people are paying in other European countries.
Food and non-alcoholic drink prices in Ireland are the third highest in the EU, despite this country being a huge producer of agricultural produce.
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We are only behind Luxembourg and Denmark when it comes to food prices.
They are almost 15pc above the EU average.
However, this is an improvement on recent years, as prices were over 21pc above average in 2020.
Restaurant and hotel prices are the second highest in the EU, behind only Denmark, at 29pc above average.
Communications costs are almost 40pc above average.
And Ireland is also the third most expensive country for electricity, gas and fuel with prices over 17pc above average.
In better news, clothing prices are actually 1pc below the EU average and cheaper than in Lithuania, Latvia and Poland.
Non-EU countries Iceland, Norway and Switzerland were also included in the research and generally have prices higher than Ireland's.
Mr Cassidy of Bonkers.ie said we have known for a while that Ireland is an expensive country and these figures from Eurostat confirm it.
'There are several reasons why prices here are so high.
'These include: our higher wages, a lack of competition in certain sectors, high taxation on certain goods such as tobacco, alcohol and fuel, and lower government subsidies in certain areas such as public transport and childcare compared to our European neighbours.'
He said businesses are also faced with high insurance and energy costs, which then get passed on to consumers.
Mr Cassidy said Ireland will never be a cheap place to live.
'And it's worth noting that many of the world's most expensive countries such as Switzerland, Iceland and Denmark also have some of the highest standards of living in the world.'
He said that wages in Ireland, while high by international standards, generally don't match the salaries in these countries.
At the same time, taxpayers in more expensive countries tend to get back more from the Government in terms of better and more affordable healthcare, childcare and public transport — though there have been welcome improvements made here in Ireland in recent years, Mr Cassidy said.
He called for the Government to lower our standard rate of VAT, which at 23pc is one of the highest in the world.