Soaring shopping bills hitting Irish as supermarkets profit – new laws will give watchdog power to tackle price gougers

The Irish Sun

2 days ago

INFLATION and the cost-of-living crisis is an ever-increasing strain on many Irish households.
Recent CSO stats show that prices here continue to climb.
3
The cost-of-living crisis is an ever-increasing strain on many Irish households
Credit: Getty Images - Getty
3
Ged Nash says the government must act on soaring grocery prices
Credit: Damien Storan
Inflation soared in 2022 to reach 9.2 per cent, mainly due to greater demand for oil and gas after the
Energy prices surged again in the aftermath of
It then remained well above the
Some parts of the
READ MORE ON COST OF LIVING
Writing in
IT'S time to get a grip on grocery prices and the Bill I brought to the
The Unfair Prices Bill addresses the ever-spiralling cost of the weekly shop.
It seeks to give new enforcement powers to the
Most read in The Irish Sun
This is something I've been arguing with the government over for two years, and I'm pleased they at last appear to be listening and did not vote against my Bill. That's a start.
Cost Crisis Hitting Irish Businesses And Causing Closure Havoc
For too many of the big international multiples, their pricing policy remains a mystery as does their Irish profits.
We have theories, and some facts. But the truth is, we simply don't know exactly why the prices of basic goods in supermarkets here remain high.
PROFIT MARGINS
This Bill will put an onus on the consumer watchdog to collect and publish key data on the price of the shop, and in doing so the new draft law will make it a
First and foremost, it will force the big businesses we all shop with to be more transparent. It will keep them honest.
At a time when
The cost of
COSTS RISING
The price of a pound of butter has risen by close to €1 over the past year to an average of €4.69, a jump of more than 26 per cent, according to Central Statistics Office (CSO) figures.
Beef, milk, cheese and lamb prices have all shot up in the last year and the latest figures from consultancy group Kantar shows price inflation in supermarkets is now running at 5 per cent, double what it was last year.
All of this, when average wage growth looks set to come in at under 4 per cent this year. In other words, the hard-earned
Cumulatively, grocery prices are up as much as 30 per cent over the past three years.
'GREEDFLATION' IS GROWING
This means that a typical family is paying about €2,000 more for groceries a year.
At the same time, the incomes of farmers and food producers are being squeezed, and the only winners are the supermarkets.
The suspicion that 'greedflation' is at work is growing.
In Ireland in 2025, we have hard-working parents opting to feed their children over themselves while food producers and multinational supermarkets rake in profits.
As I've said many times, you can't eat good
GOVERNMENT HELP NEEDED
The government must help those who need it most.
For the most part, this means investing in making our public services work better, and fairer wages for
However, it also means governments making smart, pro-consumer interventions.
So many of our state's watchdogs have a bark that's as weak as their bite and that is because they don't have the underpinning legislation to sink their teeth into those acting against the public interest.
My Bill will give them the teeth to let them do what they were set up to do — protect the consumer against profiteering of big business.
3
The price of a pound of butter has risen by close to €1 over the past year
Credit: Getty Images - Getty