Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent)

As others have said, people are suffering from massive price inflation across a range of areas, including in supermarkets, the subject of this debate. The causes are varied, including wars, energy price hikes, supply shortages, Brexit and so on, but the suspicion remains that the supermarket chains are making excessive profits. As Ireland is the second most expensive country in Europe, scrutiny is required. Even when margins are found to be tight, families need to be given the tools to find the best value in a given week. Measures can be taken. Large retailers could be required to publish their profit margins for specific products or product categories, especially those in areas of high inflation. Information, as others have said, is needed all the way up the supply chain. Profit controls should be looked at where necessary and enforceable, and we need better standardised unit pricing in order that the unit pricing can be applied across all supermarkets. At the moment, as a shopper, as others have said, it is quite confusing when trying to compare the weight and the volume. Retailers do not make it easy.

We need enhanced powers for the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission. The CCPC should be empowered to actively monitor and investigate pricing practices in the grocery sector. This includes the ability to analyse market data and profit margins and intervene when unfair or excessive pricing is identified. The Competition and Consumer Protection (Unfair Prices) Bill, which has reached Second Stage, would be a good place to start as an existing framework that could be built on. Some of us will remember the TV series "Rip Off Republic" in the noughties, which could be added to that. Consumer experts regularly appear on radio shows and podcasts, not to mention regular columns in newspapers, like Conor Pope's "Pricewatch". We do not just need to have the CCPC looking at stuff; we also need to give that information in a credible way to people. Why does the Government not fund the CCPC to do a regular price watch podcast or video blog and employ someone as a good-value independent influencer to give that information? That is something the Government could do.

See this speech in context