Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú) | Oireachtas source

It is possible that those in the two tiers could have a different experience going forward. Mr. Barnes mentioned that there is positive feedback between the foreign direct investment sector and indigenous sector. It is possible that the indigenous sector could suffer while the overall picture would be better.

I have a number of questions to finish on. We hear in political discourse that everyone is suffering due to the cost-of-living crisis, inflation and the war in Ukraine. Has IFAC carried out any comparative analysis on inflation in Ireland and the cost of living? Most of the indicators we see show that Ireland is at the very top of the list, if not among the top three most expensive countries to live in. Does competition play a role in this? Historically, Ireland has had structural competition problems whereby we have not had enough players within a given market to drive prices down, create efficiencies, or even prevent profits that are too high from being made. I can think of a number of such sectors from retail, electricity supply and, historically, the legal system. What work can we do to reduce inflation and the cost of living? Can we do work on those structural problems in order to have an ultimate benefit?