While households are struggling to buy basic goods, we are seeing companies reaping record profits. We know that food shopping costs are expected to increase by an additional €1,200 for people this year alone. While no one denies the inflationary effect of the pandemic and of the war in Ukraine, the reality is that we are seeing very serious profiteering from large corporations which is amplifying price inflation. This has been referred to as greed-flation and, indeed, a European Central Bank, ECB, paper in March highlighted that corporate profits account for two thirds of domestic price pressures. We know that large companies with market power can raise prices well above the official inflation rates and households are paying the price.

Will the Taoiseach face up to the profiteering and price-gouging which we are seeing, particularly in respect of food prices? Will he heed the calls made by my colleague, Deputy Nash, who has called on the Government to use the Consumer Protection Act 2007 to introduce price controls and to ensure we see food prices kept at affordable rates for households?

I thank the Deputy. The Consumer Protection Act is a matter for the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Deputy Coveney, but certainly when I was Minister, we examined and studied the history of price controls in Ireland and, indeed, those controls in other countries, and the difficulty which arises very often when one imposes price controls through consumer orders, where one can end up with a lack of supply and with shortages. That is a risk I believe everybody wants to avoid because while one can cap the retail price as to what somebody charges in the shops, one cannot cap the price at which the shops get it from the wholesaler and they may not get the product at all. One may then end up with shortages and rationing and all of the things we would have seen in eastern Europe and other parts of the world. That is not what we want here.