Food prices and supermarket costs
Deputy Bacik raised high supermarket prices and criticised Government inaction. The Minister of State replied that price caps have not worked in other EU states and warned against them, noting the issue was being discussed further.
I do not know if the Taoiseach has ever read the classic text The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by the Irish author, Robert Tressell. We celebrated Tressell’s legacy in Liberty Hall at the weekend, with Mick Lynch, the leader of the British union, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, RMT, speaking at the event and reminding us of the money trick under capitalism. That money trick that Tressell described so well explains why supermarkets continue to keep food prices high and to maintain food prices in the face of falling inflation. The Taoiseach has said that his Government expects food prices to fall, but that is simply not good enough. It is not good enough simply to express a hope or an expectation. The Government must intervene. As my colleague, Deputy Nash has said, Fianna Fáil introduced maximum price order legislation previously. The reality is that now consumers, citizens and residents require State intervention to ensure prices will fall for basic necessities like foodstuffs in supermarkets. Will the Taoiseach do more than just expect prices to fall? Will he act now to introduce the necessary State interventions such as price controls to correct the imbalance?
Comment on this
Deputy Nash and I had an exchange last night in the Chamber during Private Members’ business, during which I issued a very stark warning. Price caps have been introduced so far this year in the EU in both Croatia, which had food costs inflation of 20%, and in Hungary, which had food costs inflation of 50%. Let us be frank: these have not worked. They have actually had a damaging impact on the wider economy and crucially on society, including those in supermarkets.
It is a power that is open to the Government under the Consumer Protection Act 2007. However, as has been discussed quite a bit in all parts in the Chamber so far today, the priority is to engage openly and robustly with the retail sector this afternoon in a model similar to the one the French have taken. We look forward to that meeting and indeed to meeting the sector again in six weeks’ time.