Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)

I move:

That Dáil Éireann: notes that:

— households across the country are struggling to make ends meet as the cost of living soars;

— more than 70 per cent of people in Ireland are either, "extremely" or "very" concerned about the cost of groceries, according to the recent PwC's Voice of the Consumer Survey 2025;

— many families are now spending €3,000 more a year on groceries than they were in 2021;

— grocery prices have increased by nearly 40 per cent in the past four years, while the increase in the Consumer Price Index, over the same period, is 21 per cent;

— grocery prices have increased at three times the rate of general inflation over the past year alone;

— sky-rocketing grocery prices have been coupled with huge increases in other household costs, like energy and rent, and are putting a huge strain on low- and middle-income families;

— according to a recent Credit Union Consumer Sentiment survey, 15 per cent of Irish consumers would be unable to cope with a financial emergency costing €1,000;

— the number of children living in consistent poverty nearly doubled, to more than 100,000, in 2024; and

— the Children's Rights Alliance Chief Executive Officer, Tanya Ward, has described the cumulative impact of continued rising costs as "a landslide effect" for low-income families, meaning that basic necessities, such as nutritious food or a warm home have become increasingly difficult;

further notes that:

— on 10th May, 2023, then Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Neale Richmond T.D. convened a supermarket summit, an emergency meeting of the retail forum;

— Minister of State Richmond gave supermarkets six weeks to bring down the cost of groceries, but failed to ask them to reveal their profits;

— the meeting was a failure and in the more than two years since that meeting, prices have continued to soar; and

— there is a commitment in the Programme for Government to "strengthen competition by promoting price transparency in all sectors";

believes that:

— there is a lack of transparency around supermarket profits that is not acceptable given sustained and soaring prices;

— it is also unclear how much profit goes to producers, processors, and retailers in the chain;

— consumers have a right to know whether surging grocery prices reflect genuine input cost increases or price gouging; and

— accounting transparency by large grocery retailers is essential to protect household budgets, restore consumer trust, and ensure fairness in one of the most critical markets for Irish consumers; and

calls on the Government to:

— introduce legislation requiring all grocery retailers operating in Ireland with annual turnover above €10 million to publish full audited annual financial accounts;

— ensure that this requirement applies to all operators, whether Irish-incorporated or foreign branches, ensuring no retailer can claim foreign registration to evade transparency obligations;

— monitor and publish regular reports on the impact of this transparency initiative on grocery price inflation and competition in the retail sector;

— grant the Agri-Food Regulator the powers it needs to "compel the provision of necessary price and market information from relevant businesses in the agri-food supply chain, in order to fulfil its price and market data analysis function", as requested of the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine by the Chairperson of the Regulator's Board in September 2024; and

— amend the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 to grant the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission statutory authority to compel the disclosure of information when carrying out market studies in line with powers already available in the United Kingdom and other jurisdictions.

The cost of living is out of control and this is nowhere more evident than on supermarket shelves. The scale and the speed at which prices are increasing is astronomical and there is no sign of it slowing down. In a few short years, the costs for families has increased by €3,000 per year. Grocery costs are now skyrocketing at three times the rate of inflation. Anyone doing their shopping will have noticed it; I am sure the Minister of State has noticed it. Trips to the shop to pick up a few items are increasingly costly. A person can now spend €50 on groceries and carry them out in their hands. This is an indication of how few items one can now buy with €50. These soaring prices are particularly difficult for parents trying to feed children or for pensioners on fixed incomes, who are now cutting back on groceries just to make ends meet.

This should not be coming as news to the Government. We are not relying on anecdotal evidence when we say prices are skyrocketing; we now have a mountain of data to back this up. As recently as yesterday, Barnardos published a shocking report which found that four in ten parents are skipping meals so their children have enough to eat. Last Friday, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul revealed that nearly half of its calls this year were about the single issue of grocery prices. Earlier this year, an ESRI study found that more than 60% of people had cut back on groceries to save money.

This is not a niche issue or one that is only impacting on a small number of people. The scale of these increases means that huge numbers of lower- and middle-class families are finding things increasingly difficult. The fact is that Ireland is a wealthy country and people should not have to struggle just to survive but this is what we are talking about here, the cost of simply existing in this country, putting a roof over one's head, keeping the lights on and keeping food on the table. More and more people are finding this completely unaffordable. They spend all of their time desperately trying to keep their heads above water and every waking minute worrying about how they are going to pay the bills. They are scrimping and saving, not for a family holiday or a treat for their children, but simply for basic food.

The negative impact this is having on people's well-being is enormous. The Minister of State will understand that constantly treading water and trying to keep one's head above is exhausting and draining. Any unforeseen expense, such as a washing machine breaking or a car needing repair, can throw family budgets into chaos. According to a recent credit union consumer sentiment survey, 15% of Irish consumers would be unable to cope with an unforeseen expense of €1,000. To put it in context, that is exactly how much the Government will be looking for from parents for college fees this October.

I do not know whether the Government is out of touch, simply does not care or is just not bothered. I hope that is not the case but I really cannot understand why the Government has not tried to tackle this issue. Maybe the Minister of State can explain that, if not to me, then to anyone watching this who is struggling to feed their family. The last time the Government said it would do anything was in 2023. Back then, the Minister of State with responsibility for retail, Deputy Neale Richmond, convened a supermarket summit - an emergency meeting of the retail forum. This sounded really good; it sounded strong and very positive. He talked tough at the time and said he was giving supermarkets six weeks to bring down the cost of groceries, but the reality was somewhat different. He turned up, wagged his finger and everyone went home. The supermarket summit was a complete capitulation by the Government. It was a talking shop and, unfortunately, appeared to be convened only for optics that everybody quickly forgot about. Not only was this an abject failure, it just seemed like the Government could not be bothered to put pressure on the supermarkets.

There are solutions. There are things that can be done. At the time, the Social Democrats asked the Government to compel supermarket chains to reveal their profits but it did not do so. That is why we are back again today, calling on it to do so. The grocery market in Ireland is worth at least €8 billion per year, so why is there so little transparency about profits? Does the Minister of State not find that odd or a little bit worrying? Many of us have long suspected that consumers in Ireland are being gouged by large supermarket chains that use their operations as a cash cow. However, without full transparency on profit levels, it is very difficult to prove this. It is also very difficult for the consumer regulator, the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, to do anything other than issue bland statements because, in reality, it has no teeth. It has no powers to properly investigate this issue and get to the bottom of it. That is why the news that it is to reopen its probe into the Irish grocery retail sector is so underwhelming. The last time it looked at this issue, in 2023, when prices were rising by double-digit figures, it said, "There is nothing to see here." It found nothing. Since then, prices have continued to rise but the Government has refused to give the regulator more powers. What makes anyone think that this latest probe will be any different? After all, it is hard to do an investigation like this when the Government has tied the regulator's hands behind its back. That is why our motion makes an important demand. It seeks to amend the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 to grant the regulator the statutory authority to compel the disclosure of information when carrying out market studies. This is what happens in other countries like the UK, so why is it not happening here?

We also want the Government to act on another area. Not only is there a complete lack of transparency about supermarket profits, it is also completely unclear how much profit goes to producers, processors and retailers in that food chain. We urgently need clarity on the way in which margins are spread out. As it stands, it appears that the lion's share of the profits often go to processors or big retailers. To achieve clarity on this, we want the Government to grant the Agri-Food Regulator the powers it needs to compel the provision of necessary price and market information from relevant businesses in the agrifood supply chain. This is not just something the Social Democrats want; the Agri-Food Regulator also wants it. Its chairperson, Joe Healy, wrote to the Minister in September 2024, asking for these powers. He did so when its investigation of the egg supply chain had to be scrapped when businesses in the sector refused to co-operate. Nearly a year later, the Agri-Food Regulator is still waiting for these powers but the Government has not provided them.

When the Government talks about the crisis in grocery prices it tends to do so in the past tense. It talks about rapid price increases when Russia invaded Ukraine, as if the crisis ended there. However, what is not acknowledged is that those prices never came down and now grocery costs are skyrocketing again while the Government sits idly by and watches it happen.

Has the Minister of State paid her electricity bill? Will I just continue?

See this speech in context