Alan Kelly (Tipperary North, Labour)

I recently met a lady in a supermarket on a fixed income with two adult dependants. She had forgotten her phone which had her loyalty card on it. Panic set in because she did not have it. After we sorted it all out, she told me she could not buy the same groceries on her fixed income as she could a year or two ago. She was quite upset and emotional about it. The CSO today said food and drink prices are up 4.6% compared with 1.8% for everything else, on average, across the country. There is no doubt gouging is going on in supermarkets. I ask the Tánaiste to consider genuinely consider looking into supermarkets having to publish profits; he has a good track record on this. The Labour Party published legislation on that to bring about transparency. More important, can the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission be asked to look at this gouging which is obviously going on? I also ask for it to investigate the scam that is loyalty cards. They are now absolutely mandatory, not voluntary. Supermarkets should work on the basis of price, quality and service. Now, if you do not engage with giving over your personal data to supermarkets to ensure you have one of these cards, you will be ripped off even further. It is not acceptable. It is a rip-off and it needs to be investigated.

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