Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

Brexit and its potential implications here have elicited much debate in recent months. Very understandably much of the focus of attention has been on exports from Ireland to the UK. However, there is another side to the depreciation of sterling which is one of the immediate effects of Brexit. Every day I hear that there do not seem to be any change in prices of ordinary things that people buy here as a result of the depreciation of sterling, particularly from UK multiples.

With that in mind I did a price comparison in Liffey Valley last Saturday. I picked some toys, home ware, children's clothes and shoes, a bag, women's clothes, non-prescribed pharmacy items, magazines and also an electronic item. There are very significant differences between the prices in the UK and what they sell for in Ireland. It is not a case that people really have a choice to shop around.

Ironically magazines benefit from the 9% VAT rate because they fall under the hospitality area. That reduced rate applies to things other than restaurants and hotels in that category. In that area I found the most significant difference. With barcodes on certain items it may not be possible to see the price, but it may be possible to see the UK price. In one of my local shops I saw an item showing a price of 89 pence and it cost €2.80 at the checkout, which is an outrageous rip-off. It is part of the reason that people feel our money does not stretch any distance and it will lead to a big exodus to the North, ironically to go to exactly the same shops to buy exactly the same things as they would in the South. That is what will happen because people will not be taken for fools.

On 14 items, including a television which would be one of the big items one would travel to buy, there is €463 of a difference in price. When buying more expensive items, obviously the price difference is even higher. There is an irony about some of it. For example, something that is £3.99 in Boots in the UK is €5.99 here. Something that is €35 here is £25 there. They are nice, neat, round figures. I picked out very ordinary things across a range of goods. However, there appears a minimum 20% mark-up to start with.

With two outlets, Marks & Spencer and Next, I was able to do a comparison with the Netherlands, France and Germany. Marks & Spencer here was more expensive, but the Netherlands varied. In all cases the UK was cheaper. One would have to say there may be a reduction in price in the UK relative to other countries. The problem is that people cannot shop around because it is the same shops and all the shops are using this 20% differential.

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