Michael Ahern (Cork East, Fianna Fail)

The issue is not whether food inflation increases in one year and decreases the following year. It is easy to close the door to the outside world and assume that if food inflation is -1% in a given year, we must be doing okay. We need to compare our rate of inflation against other indicators, for example, if our rate is -1%, the average European Union rate is -2% and the United Kingdom rate is -3%, we must question whether we are getting a good deal.

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