Chris Andrews (Dublin Bay South, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank my Sinn Féin colleagues for their work in tabling this motion. Perhaps the most visible sign of the cost-of-living crisis is the continual rise in the cost of food and groceries. Everyone in a household, from children to parents, can see prices rising. The Government's approach of sitting on its hands as food prices soar shows clearly how utterly out of touch it is with ordinary workers and their families. What will it take for this Government finally to stand on the side of ordinary workers and their families? Workers are seeing their real wages steadily decrease. At the same time, the price of the finished products produced by farmers has also been decreasing since last December yet the price of food and groceries is rising month after month. It has increased 17% since last year. Supermarket chains are making record profits at the expense of ordinary workers and their families. The greed of record profits is running wild and must be reined in. Companies are clearly using inflation as an excuse to rake in high profits. The trade unions recently described it well when they called it "greedflation". How far will the Government let the price gouging go before saying enough is enough? Workers need to see real and meaningful change from this Government. We need to see the Government start by instructing the CCPC to investigate possible price gouging in the retail food and grocery sector. We cannot continue to let food prices rise any more. Many workers and families are already under financial pressure. When will enough be enough?

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