Louth TD slams government ‘Inertia’ on grocery prices

Labour's Finance spokesperson and Louth TD Ged Nash has said government inertia on a policy response to bring more transparency on grocery prices and the profits of major supermarket chains operating in Ireland is "unforgivable." 

Speaking in response to CSO data published yesterday which shows that average food prices are running at twice the rate of inflation, Deputy Nash said:

"Government inertia and inaction as we await a policy response to a problem facing every household in the country is as baffling as it is unforgivable.

"The rate of increase of certain basic products such as beef and butter takes some explaining, considering that the primary producers are hardly coining it in.

"The government's response of 'let's commission another report'  to the ever-escalating cost of the weekly shop is akin to Fr. Ted and his 'can anything be said for another mass' response to a crisis. 

"This government is going to ask the CCPC to produce yet another report to see if excessive prices are a systemic problem in the grocery trade here.

"They did that two years ago and managed to conclude - in the absence of any meaningful data on profits and profit margins - that there was nothing to see here.

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"How can they possibly determine this, when not all operators active in Ireland publish in any meaningful way, the profits they make here, so that we can figure out their margins? They look set to embark, yet again, on another fool's errand, and this is just how the big companies want it to remain. 

"At the very least we need greater price transparency and clarity on profits and margins.

"We can only get that if the government expedites Labour's Unfair Pricing Bill which was debated in the Dáil in May, or even a government-sponsored version of it."