380. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Finance to address the increase in pricing across the board. [63633/26]

Following the outbreak of the conflict in the Middle East and subsequent disruption to energy commodity flows, inflation in Ireland, like elsewhere, has accelerated. The annual rate of inflation in Ireland as measured by the Harmonised Index of Consumer Prices (HICP) increased from 2½ per cent in February this year to 3.4 per cent in its most recent reading in August. This broadly mirrors developments in the wider euro area where inflation has accelerated from 1.9 per cent to 3.3 per cent over the same period.

Core inflation (excluding energy and unprocessed food) in Ireland has remained broadly stable over this period, with an annual rate of 2.6 per cent recorded in both February and August.

Government is acutely conscious of the very real pressure that higher prices, in particular energy prices, have placed on households. That is why we have introduced supports to mitigate the impact of elevated energy prices on households and businesses. In particular, the reduction in excise duties on fuels are estimated by my Department to directly reduce the annual rate of inflation by c. ½ percentage point.

In June of last year, the Department of Climate, Energy and Environment established the National Energy Affordability Taskforce (NEAT) to identify, assess and implement measures that will enhance energy affordability for households and businesses.

The conflict in the Middle East underlines, once again, the Government’s position that the best long-term approach for Ireland to insulate consumers from volatility on international wholesale energy markets is through continued investment in our grid and retrofitting of homes and businesses, as well as the accelerated deployment of renewables across all sectors in the State.

More generally, over the medium-term, maintaining Ireland’s competitiveness and addressing any capacity constraints in the domestic economy are essential to minimising domestic cost pressures. The ongoing implementation of the Action Plan on Competitiveness and Productivity, as well as the revised National Development Plan and the Accelerating Infrastructure Action Plan will help in this regard by expanding the productive capacity of our economy and alleviating bottlenecks, thereby helping to mitigate any price pressures that may emerge.