Ivana Bacik (Dublin Bay South, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I do not know if the Taoiseach has ever read the classic text The Ragged Trousered Philanthropistsby the Irish author, Robert Tressell. We celebrated Tressell’s legacy in Liberty Hall at the weekend, with Mick Lynch, the leader of the British union, the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers, RMT, speaking at the event and reminding us of the money trick under capitalism. That money trick that Tressell described so well explains why supermarkets continue to keep food prices high and to maintain food prices in the face of falling inflation. The Taoiseach has said that his Government expects food prices to fall, but that is simply not good enough. It is not good enough simply to express a hope or an expectation. The Government must intervene. As my colleague, Deputy Nash has said, Fianna Fáil introduced maximum price order legislation previously. The reality is that now consumers, citizens and residents require State intervention to ensure prices will fall for basic necessities like foodstuffs in supermarkets. Will the Taoiseach do more than just expect prices to fall? Will he act now to introduce the necessary State interventions such as price controls to correct the imbalance?

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