Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

I think the Taoiseach is living in a wonderland regarding this issue. I acknowledged in my previous question that food prices have decreased by 6.3% between the beginning of 2009 and May 2010 but they increased again in May. The same pattern can be discerned in respect of bread and cereals, meat and milk, cheese and eggs. There is no getting away from the fact that prices here are out of line with the rest of Europe. Sterling is a factor when one compares prices between Ireland and the UK but it clearly does not apply with regard to eurozone countries.

Two problems arise. First, there is a lack of urgency on the part of the Government to deal with the problem of prices. Two years is too long to be waiting for what amounts to a voluntary code of practice for the big supermarket chains. Second, while I appreciate the Taoiseach has indicated that he will ask the Minister of State, Deputy Billy Kelleher, to investigate my proposal, we need to see, at a minimum, the bottom line for the big chains. If we are in an environment where farmers are not getting paid the proper price, food producers and suppliers are being squeezed by hello money and all kinds of practices and people's incomes have dropped, it is not acceptable that the price of basic foodstuff - the products going into the trolleys in the supermarkets - are 30% above the rest of the European Union. The Government needs to take action to address this issue and I ask it to do so.

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