John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the witnesses for attending. This is the conclusion of a report on how to sustain our towns and villages, keep them vibrant, keep them as places people want to come into, whether aesthetically by having nice civic places or places to have a nice experience. We are all about the experience these days.

I agree restaurants have become quite competitive. People often think it is almost free to eat in the Dáil but it is actually cheaper to go to a restaurant off Grafton Street and get an early bird for which a person could still have change out of €20. It is not possible to get that in the Dáil restaurant.

As a consumer, I have a particular pet hate. In May, RTÉ's consumer show did a programme looking at the marked-up price of beer and soft drinks in pubs and restaurants. It found that the average marked-up price of a pint of lager was 98% and the average marked-up price of a 200 ml soft drink was 407%. It was cheaper to have a pint of beer than a rock shandy. I ask for a comment on that. That is a lot of money for a soft drink. I recognise that there may be disparities throughout urban and rural areas but the reality is that if I go for a pint tonight in a street close enough to here I will pay close to €6. If I go to my local I might pay €4.50 for it. We are talking about how to get consumers into our towns and villages. Startling figures like that - paying €5 for a rock shandy in a pub - to people who are finding it hard to make ends meet and maybe still want to live a little are ridiculous when they can go elsewhere. It is the public that needs convincing.