Calls for 'rip-off' loyalty cards to be investigated over claims of 'gouging'
Former Labour leader Alan Kelly made the claim and said there was 'no doubt' supermarkets are 'gouging' their cashstrapped customers.
Before the Dáil broke for the summer recess, the Tipperary North TD and former minister asked Tánaiste Simon Harris to 'please investigate [via the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission] the scam that is these loyalty cards, which are now absolutely mandatory and not voluntary'.
Mr Kelly said: 'It's now at the stage where, if you don't engage with giving over your personal data to [supermarkets] in order to ensure you have one of these cards, you will actually be ripped off even further. The consumer watchdog has been urged to investigate the 'scam' that is supermarket loyalty cards. Pic: Getty Images
'It's not acceptable. It's a rip-off and it needs to be investigated.'
The former senator also argued that supermarkets should be compelled to publish their profits, as per legislation drafted by the Labour Party 'to bring about transparency'.
He said a constituent had been left in a 'panic' in the supermarket days earlier, having forgotten her phone and therefore being unable to scan her loyalty card.
Mr Kelly said: 'After we sorted it all out, she told me how she couldn't buy the same groceries on her fixed income at any level to what she could a year or two ago, and she was quite upset about it, and emotional.'
The Tánaiste said he was 'going to specifically ask' junior enterprise minister Alan Dillon to look at the loyalty card issue.
Mr Harris said: 'I share your concerns in relation to this. There's one thing if something is kind of optional, but if it becomes almost mandatory to have it in the first instance, or you have to pay a Latest figures show that grocery prices have gone up at twice the rate of general inflation over the past 12 months.
Food and non-alcoholic drink went up by 4.6% over the course of the year, compared to the general inflation rate of 1.8%. Pic: Getty Images
The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has confirmed it is updating a 2023 examination of whether supermarkets were setting their prices unfairly. The analysis, which found no wrongdoing last time, is expected to be completed in the coming weeks.
Mr Dillon said this week he has also asked the CCPC to look into whether it would be possible for other food retail giants, such as British chains like Asda and Morrisons or French company Carrefour, to set up in Ireland, thereby increasing competition.
Michael Kilcoyne, chairman of the Consumers' Association of Ireland (CAI), called supermarket inflation 'chronic'.
He told Extra.ie: 'There is absolutely no control. They can charge what they like, whenever they like. And there doesn't appear to be any accountability whatsoever.
'If you take the key items families use such as butter, milk, oil, prices have increased hugely. Meat as well. There doesn't appear to be any justification for it and no one is doing anything about it.'
Dairy and beef are among the items to have seen the sharpest price rises in the past 12 months. A pound of butter has gone up by over €1, while the price of beef has increased by 20%.
Mayo county councillor Mr Kilcoyne disagrees with Mr Kelly that loyalty cards are ripping off customers who don't sign up.
He said: 'If a supermarket wants to give you a fiver off €25 or a tenner off €50, that's to be welcomed.'
Mr Kilcoyne said he accepts the 'merit' in retailers pointing out that electricity and production costs are among the highest in Europe. But he added: 'Our wages and incomes aren't the highest, and our VAT rates are among the highest in Europe – some goods have VAT near 23%.'
Additional reporting by Kate Lynch
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