Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)

I have the humble Snack bar in my hand. Its price has doubled. People used to be able to get 12 of them for €1 a decade ago. The price is now €5. It is not the farmers in Africa who grow the cocoa who are benefiting from this. Supermarkets should have to tell people if they are paying more for less. Supermarkets are gouging people. They must be forced to publish their profit margins. I second the amendment tabled by Deputy Nash.

Tesco and its Clubcard prices constitute a scam while Dunnes Stores and its vouchers constitute another scam. What I would say to these supermarkets is forget about these vouchers and drop their prices. People are going around supermarkets around this country like eejits trying to buy "X" amount of products to get a fiver or a tenner off the shopping or buying particular products and scanning the app so the price will drop. Research in 2022 found that Irish shoppers are spending €500 annually chasing voucher deals. I bet that figure has doubled since then. They are causing people to waste money. In Germany, Aldi was found to have breached EU consumer law by claiming fake discounts on bananas. This is insane. Supermarkets here are charging double UK prices. It costs €6 for a jar of mayonnaise here when it costs £4 in the North. Tesco made a profit of €3 billion with sales of €3.4 billion. Dunnes Stores have a market share of 25% while SuperValu has a 20% market share and Tesco has a 24% market share. It is about time Government implemented our Bill and reined these cowboys in.

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