Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am happy to do so. As I acknowledged earlier, we are experiencing food inflation. We now expect to see prices moderate or come down in the coming weeks and months, as they have in respect of petrol and diesel. We are doing three things. The Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, is meeting representatives of the Retail Forum today and will say to the retailers very clearly that if their input costs are coming down, we expect them to pass that on to consumers. We are engaging with the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, a Government body that has the power to investigate price-fixing, cartel-like behaviour and price-signalling. If the Deputy has any evidence of these, I expect her to present it to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, if she has not done so already. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission has the powers and we have written to it about its responsibilities already. We did so back in November.

The Government is acting to help people with the cost of living. It is reducing income taxes and bringing in a rent credit, including €200 last week for pensioners and people on weekly welfare payments and €100 per child for middle-income families next month. The Deputy voted against all that. She should not put across the false narrative that she is putting forward solutions that we are voting down; she voted against the energy credit, the welfare Bill and the budget. None of this can happen without the budget, which she did not support.

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