Food Prices
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-23
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Martin Daly (FF), Roscommon-Galway

I appreciate the response but the concern remains around how this is being experienced by people on the ground. People are telling us that the value of a euro in the shopping trolley has fundamentally changed. There was a time when people could shop around. They might do a core shop in one retailer and then top up in other retailers for choice. However, we are increasingly hearing those price differences have narrowed significantly, suggesting a lack of competition in the retail sector. The sense of being able to shop strategically and save has reduced and people feel they are paying more regardless of where they go.
At the same time, the evidence is clear that healthier food can be up to three times more expensive per calorie than less healthy alternatives while cheaper more processed options continue to offer more for less. People with the least resources eat the unhealthiest food and that has ramifications right throughout our health system and our State. When households are under pressure, they are not making lifestyle choices, they are making budget decisions.
That brings me back to the central point. People are seeing prices rise, but they do not see who is actively tracking those increases, analysing them or holding the system to account in a clear and visible way. The question is not whether structures exist but whether they are sufficient or coherent enough for the reality that people are now facing. It has to be put in the context that this is not simply an Irish problem. This is about the lower-middle class people - people who get up for work every morning and pay for everything in this State but who are being squeezed and crushed. As Senator Teresa Costello said to me, there is no fun in their lives. That means they go out for work every day and by the time they get to the end of the week, they just about make ends meet. These are a group of people who do not want to be radicalised but are going to be radicalised. It was clear they were targeted during the recent fuel crisis.
Does the Minister of State accept there is case for a more focused and visible approach to monitoring grocery pricing so consumers can have confidence that what they are experiencing is being properly examined and understood?

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-23/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:54:48+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-23