Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Any programme can be eroded by inflation. In a small way I have raised some questions in individual cases as to what caused inflation in a particular area, product or service, only to be told there is a war on. With no disrespect to the people who tell us this, I am not sure whether it is the Second World War, the Boer War, the Crimean War or some other war they are referring to. The fact of the matter is that all are not attributable. We cannot identify where they are all coming from. For instance in the tourism sector, there has been a massive rise in hotel bed-night costs. The cost of hiring a car is appalling on the basis that cars are scarce. I can think of a number of places where as far as the eye can see there are cars parked. They are here already. With regard to the economic benefit of the use of cars and meeting the green economy requirements, which we have to, there are plenty of electric cars coming into the business now. I suggest that we need to be very careful about the damage we can do to ourselves with a glib remark about a war that does not affect that particular product at all. It is not attributable. To what extent do the witnesses see in the future oversight that is likely to impact, hopefully in a positive way, on the prevention of price gouging for want of a better description?