Bertie Ahern (Dublin Central, Fianna Fail)

As I said, the Competition Authority, the National Consumer Agency, Departments and the social partners, as they have done three times this decade, have been examining individual sectors of the economy where there are pressures. Every month those figures are analysed in great detail. They have used their efforts wherever they believe we need more competition. The Competition Authority has produced several reports whose recommendations have been implemented to drive competition in certain areas.

If Deputy Burton's argument were true, the only way of beating this inflation would be through more competition. More aggressive competition is the only way to change that. It is necessary to move away from cartels.

While services inflation is higher, it does not cover the areas raised by Deputy Burton. Taking the figures for the past few months, the consumer price index, CPI, average has been at 3%. The comparable harmonised consumer price index, HCPI, forecast is 2.4%. CPI figures for the year to date imply that forecast may come under pressure if the trend does not moderate in the year. That is the information we have got from the analysis.

The pick-up in inflation is from the knock-on effect of last year's rise in interest rates, as well as price rises in oil and food. There is no doubt that the demand and price increases for food have exacerbated it. There has also been services inflation.

The efforts of the agencies collectively have been to drive competition or watch price-fixing or price-taking by organisations. All State agencies have been actively involved in that for the past seven months.

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