I recently met a lady in a supermarket on a fixed income with two adult dependants. She had forgotten her phone which had her loyalty card on it. Panic set in because she did not have it. After we sorted it all out, she told me she could not buy the same groceries on her fixed income as she could a year or two ago. She was quite upset and emotional about it. The CSO today said food and drink prices are up 4.6% compared with 1.8% for everything else, on average, across the country. There is no doubt gouging is going on in supermarkets. I ask the Tánaiste to genuinely consider looking into supermarkets having to publish profits; he has a good track record on this. The Labour Party published legislation on that to bring about transparency. More important, can the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission be asked to look at this gouging which is obviously going on? I also ask for it to investigate the scam that is loyalty cards. They are now absolutely mandatory, not voluntary. Supermarkets should work on the basis of price, quality and service. Now, if you do not engage with giving over your personal data to supermarkets to ensure you have one of these cards, you will be ripped off even further. It is not acceptable. It is a rip-off and it needs to be investigated.

I think Deputy Carroll MacNeill and I find ourselves in large agreement with a lot of what Deputy Kelly said. I know I get myself in trouble from time to time for saying these sorts of things but the cost-of-living challenge is still very real for people. We have to acknowledge that. We have to prudently budget and carefully work our way through things and always protect our economy. We can quote all the economic statistics we want but the cost of living is still very challenging for many people I would loosely refer to as the squeezed middle. On supermarkets in particular, I welcome the measures taken by Minister of State, Deputy Dillon. He met the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission and asked it to review again the Irish grocery retail sector on the issue of excessive pricing. I am told that is expected to be completed in the coming weeks. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has a statutory mandate now to investigate anti-competitive behaviour to ensure consumers are not misled or exploited. I understand several major retailers have been prosecuted for misleading discount practices. These cases marked the first wave of enforcement under new pricing transparency laws. We have committed to strengthening the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission further in the programme for Government. Perhaps we could work constructively on what that law should look like.

I will specifically ask the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, for a view on loyalty cards. I share the Deputy's concerns. It is one thing if it is optional but if it becomes almost mandatory to have it or you have to pay a much higher price, that is a legitimate cause for concern.