Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent Ireland Party)

Any price gouging by any major supermarket holder should be transparent. All their profits should be shown. Some people look at the smaller outlets whose turnover is up but whose profits are down. It is some of the major ones we need to look at to see why this is.

We also have to look at the part the Government has played in this. It introduced wage increases, which we welcomed, but where does it come back to? To the people who are going in buying the food. It is being added on. When you look at the tax regime the Government has on energy costs, there has been a 78% increase in eight months for energy costs to run these supermarkets. The Government is taking 23% VAT on top of that. It is therefore also responsible for the prices going up in our shops. When we look at the major supermarkets and they are taking over-the-top profits, yes, 100%, we should pull them in, but we should also look at our smaller stores that are not doing that to understand how we can help them. The Government has at its fingertips the ability to help them. There is no point in giving a wage increase if people do not see it in their pockets and it does not go further. The Government is giving wage increases but is driving the price of everything else up, which means workers do not get a wage increase in the first place, so it all comes back to the taxpayers again.

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