Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

Is the Taoiseach ashamed to lead a Government in one of the richest countries in the world and yet have a situation where one in ten parents are forced to go to food banks or rely on food donations to be able to feed their children? It is an incredible indictment of what is happening in this country and the policies of the Government. We know that the price of groceries has increased in the course of the past year by more than 16%, obviously far outstripping any meagre wage increases people are getting or meagre increases in social welfare payments. We also know that last year food companies, globally, and the same goes for Ireland, doubled their profits. There is a relationship between those two things. The driving factor behind the very high increases in food prices is incredible profiteering by the food companies.

We clearly need an increase in people's wages. We need an increase in social welfare payments. However, I ask the Taoiseach whether he agrees the Government should use the power it has under consumer protection legislation to introduce price controls on key food items. I draw the attention of the Taoiseach to his sister party in Greece, New Democracy, which is in government. It has introduced a list of 50 basic goods on which supermarkets are expected to freeze prices or scale back future increases. Does the Taoiseach not agree we need price controls in this country?

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