Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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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?

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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The sound is more important than the vision, I think, on this occasion.

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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Part of the privilege of being in government is that the Minister of State can intervene. She can change the law, empower regulators and force supermarkets to publish their profits. The big question the Minister of State needs to answer today is why the Government has done none of these things. Why is the Cabinet acting like bystanders, narrating a problem instead of doing anything? I implore the Government to get its act together, support our motion and take immediate action.

Liam Quaide (Cork East, Social Democrats)
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The cost-of-living crisis in Ireland can no longer be considered a transient hardship. For much of our population, it has become an entrenched form of social injustice with a vast array of adverse outcomes, both short-term and potentially far-reaching for the many people caught up in it. Nowhere is this crisis more obvious for hard-pressed families than in the weekly grocery shop, which has become a morbid ritual in witnessing ever-more stratospheric figures tot up at the counter for what is often a modest range of items.

Over the past two years, grocery prices have soared by more than 20%, hitting lower- and middle-income households hardest. The basics of everyday meals - bread, milk, pasta and fruit - have become symbols of economic strain. Tanya Ward of the Children's Rights Alliance has referred to the landslide effect of escalating costs on low-income families. Parents are skipping meals so their children can have enough of the basics. Pensioners are foregoing heating their homes. Students are choosing between food and rent. When this is contrasted with our economic prosperity, it is clear we are living in an upside-down world, politically speaking.

Meanwhile, the response from the Government has been repeated references to the Covid pandemic and the war in Ukraine and vague reassurances that competition will sort itself out. Across Europe, regulators have expressed concern that major supermarket chains are not just passing on costs, but also padding their margins. In Ireland, we are left in the dark as to how much supermarkets are making up for their own rising energy and supply costs and how much of those sums may represent an increasing profit margin.

Why is this? The reason is there is a lack of transparency on supermarket profits and pricing strategies. Aldi and Lidl, two of the biggest players, do not publish profit figures in Ireland. Dunnes Stores, which holds the largest market share, does not release any accounts. Tesco Ireland is obscured inside the wider UK group. This opacity undermines public trust. We cannot ask families to tighten their belts while billion euro retailers refuse to open their accounts. This is why the Social Democrats are calling for immediate measures to address this lack of transparency. We need the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to be given stronger powers and the resources to conduct a full investigation into supermarket pricing and profit margins across the supply chain. The UK and France have done this and we must not be laggards.

We propose mandatory financial reporting for all major grocery retailers operating in the State, both Irish-owned and international companies, with an annual turnover in excess of €10 million. This should include country-specific profit disclosures and margin breakdowns. We urge the Government to monitor and publish regular reports on the impact of the transparency initiative on grocery price inflation and competition in the retail sector. The agrifood regulator needs to be empowered to compel the provision of necessary price and market information from agrifood businesses.

Basic grocery items are not luxuries. Ensuring transparency around pricing is a small test of whether we are serious about economic justice and addressing the cost-of-living crisis. Grocery giants cannot conduct their accounting in the shadows while families fall deeper into stress in a cost-of-living crisis that is being allowed to continue unchecked by this Government.

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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I thank the Minister of State for being here today, although I must call out that it is a shame that more members of her Government do not choose to be here to discuss this very important topic because I, as a member of the Social Democrats, am very proud to bring forward this motion which really speaks to some of the challenges faced by the poorest in our society in simply making ends meet. I will make four points: the inaction we see from the Government on price gouging; the scale of this issue; the lived experience; and specifically those on the margins.

First, on the shocking inaction on price gouging by the Government, two years ago the Minister of State, Deputy Neale Richmond, gave the supermarkets six weeks to bring prices down. Six weeks passed without incident or reduction, as has been the case every week since, while supermarkets have continued to operate business as usual. Without this information, we cannot address the potential price gouging we suspect may be happening in this sector. We know from the supermarket profits that are published that their profits are growing, we know that no action has been taken by the Government to stop profiteering in its tracks and we know from farmers and producers that while prices spiral that they are not getting a cut.

When the Government gives an ultimatum and then does nothing, it sends a message that it will not level anything but strong words at big businesses. Let us look at the scale of the issue. We have the third-highest grocery prices in Europe. They have risen 36% in the last four years, adding €3,000 to the annual grocery cost of the average family in Ireland. One in four parents said they went hungry in the past year to feed their children; 15% of people in Ireland are living in forced deprivation and for renters that number is doubled. As we see the cost-of-living supports disappear for these families the cost-of-living crisis is going nowhere.

What about that lived experience? We can quote statistics all day long but we must address the human impact of these numbers. I have spoken to parents who are struggling to put food on the table for their children. It is not just stress but also the shame associated with that. It is hard to fathom for those of us fortunate enough to never experience it. Grocery items are not luxury goods or optional extras. Charities and community organisations in my constituency, Dublin Rathdown, have said the number of people asking for help with food has risen drastically. People are choosing between heating and eating not because they have done anything wrong but because they have not been protected as consumers and as citizens.

As my colleagues have pointed out, everyone is feeling the impact of these skyrocketing prices but those on the margins are being pushed ever closer to a cliff edge. Lone parents, pensioners, people with disabilities, those already in poverty are examples of people who are already vulnerable to those extra costs. They are the hardest hit in this crisis and we cannot let the issue go unaddressed while they continue to suffer and, in some cases, starve. Ireland is a wealthy country but too often our people do not see that wealth in their lives. I say again that food is not an optional extra. It is not a luxury. In one of the world’s wealthiest countries we cannot tolerate price gouging being shrouded in secrecy and lack of proof. We must address it and do something about it.

When it comes to issues that affect their lives so much, people ask me if the Government is incompetent or negligent? Is it that it does not know how to do anything about it or does it choose not to? In the sector I come from, rights and equality, we have a phrase: what we cannot measure we cannot change. So when the Government chooses to not measure the problem all I can conclude is that it is doing that on purpose so that it does not have to address it. Once again, as in so many areas in the short life of this Government so far, we see the interests of business put ahead of those struggling most in our society. I ask it to please make supermarkets share their profits so that we can identify this problem fully and address it fully.

Aidan Farrelly (Kildare North, Social Democrats)
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I will build on my colleagues' comments by setting out some brief context. My office recently engaged with the Competition and Consumer Protection Authority on price setting and loyalty schemes operated by some of the larger supermarket companies. While I acknowledge the safeguards that the CCPC provides to customers, it has been calling for more substantial penalties for breaches of consumer protection law for some time. Will the Minister of State respond to some of that in her response to us this morning? What feedback is she getting from the CCPC in this regard since one of its roles is to make recommendations to Government?

In this jurisdiction, when businesses break competition rules, they can be fined by the CCPC but they do not face the same fines for breaking consumer protection laws as they do in other European countries. The CCPC has been calling for, and needs, legislative changes to give it power to impose larger fines for serious offences, for example, allowing the CCPC to issue fines that are a percentage of the business’s turnover. This would improve compliance with consumer protection laws almost immediately. In 2024, the CCPC took legal proceedings against Tesco for failing to include unit pricing on club card promotional shelf-edge labels. A company which posted sales of €3.4 billion in 2024 in Ireland had to make a donation of €1,000 to a charity as a consequence of breaking consumer law. The Minister of State will have to agree that there is something legislatively wrong when that is the consequence of such a significant breach. Can she tell me the CCPC is wrong when it says we need more substantial penalties for breaching consumer protection law?

Concerns have been raised with my office almost weekly since the election in relation to so-called loyalty schemes. These are schemes where it appears prices are lowered for loyalty card members on items such as dishwasher tablets, nappies and other regular household items but when one looks at the price per unit, per litre or per kilo it shows the standard price has been raised and the loyalty scheme price is just par to the usual price. There are no laws in place to restrict different pricing structures for loyalty customers. This is an area that merits significant legislative scrutiny.

As my colleagues have said, successive governments have not done enough. This motion offers the Government the opportunity to do more - to listen to the CCPC and the people who are struggling so much. We can do more and empowering the CCPC would be a really welcome first step.

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I move amendment No. 1:

To delete all words after " Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following: "notes that the Government;

— recognises concerns with regards to the rising cost of groceries and the financial pressure on households;

— shares the commitment to ensuring fairness, transparency, and competition in the retail sector; and

— are actively progressing a range of targeted measures to support consumers and strengthen regulatory oversight;

in this context, notes that the Government proposes the following targeted actions, to strengthen transparency and protect consumers:

— with regards to strengthening the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC's) powers, and in line with the Programme for Government, progress legislative reforms to enhance the CCPC's enforcement powers, including the ability to impose stronger sanctions for breaches of consumer protection law, and this will ensure that anti-consumer or exploitative practices can be tackled more effectively;

— with regards to leveraging the CCPC's State of Competition Analysis, the CCPC's ongoing State of Competition work provides a robust evidence base to assess market dynamics in all sectors and identify where policy interventions may be required, and the Government will continue to engage with the CCPC on the potential for further analysis of pricing and margin trends, where appropriate;

— with regards to the CCPC's 2023 High-Level Analysis of the Irish Grocery Retail Sector, has sought an update to the findings, which found no evidence of market failure or excessive pricing, and highlighted that food inflation in Ireland has been among the lowest in the European Union, and this is expected in the coming weeks; and

— with regards to Consumer Empowerment Measures, will continue to support public awareness campaigns and digital tools to help consumers compare prices and make informed choices.".

I thank our colleagues in the Social Democrats for their motion. Before I go to my notes, I could not disagree with what Deputy Whitmore said in her opening remarks. You walk into a supermarket, come out with a handful of items and will have spent €50 or more. I appreciate that is a huge challenge for parents. In today’s world, to have parents going without feeding themselves to ensure their children are fed is very difficult.

The Government acknowledges the concerns raised in the Private Members’ motion tabled by colleagues in the Social Democrats regarding the rising cost of groceries and the increasing financial pressure experienced by households across the country. We recognise that food inflation, while moderating in recent months, has had a tangible impact on the cost of living for many families, particularly those on fixed and lower incomes. Ensuring that consumers are treated fairly, pricing is transparent and competition in the retail sector remains robust are all priorities that we share with the proposers of this motion. We are committed to taking meaningful action to support consumers and to ensure the regulatory framework governing the grocery sector is fit for purpose. To that end, the Government is actively progressing a range of targeted measures designed to enhance transparency, strengthen enforcement and promote fair competition. These measures are being developed in close consultation with regulatory bodies and stakeholders and are grounded in evidence-based policy analysis.

However, while we acknowledge the underlying objectives of the motion, we are unable to support it in its current form. We are opposing the motion for several substantive reasons which I will outline in detail. First, a number of the proposals contained in the motion duplicate or overlap with initiatives that are already in place or are currently being developed across Government. These include actions being undertaken by the CCPC, the Agri-Food Regulator and the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment. Each of these bodies plays a distinct and complementary role in monitoring price practices, promoting transparency and enforcing consumer protection legislation. The CCPC, for example, has a statutory mandate to investigate anti-competitive behaviour, assess market dynamics and ensure that consumers are not misled or exploited. It is active in this space, including through recent enforcement actions and market studies.

The Agri-Food Regulator, established under the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Act 2023, has been granted significant statutory powers to collect, analyse and publish data on prices and market conditions across the agrifood supply chain. These include the ability to identify and address unfair trading practices and imbalances in bargaining power, particularly in business-to-business relationships between producers, processors and retailers. The Government is fully committed to supporting the regulator to exercise its mandate.

Second, the motion proposes mandatory publication of full audited financial accounts for grocery retailers with annual turnover exceeding €10 million. While we understand the intention behind the proposal to increase transparency and accountability, it is important to note the proposed threshold does not align with the EU-mandated company size classifications. Under EU law, company size categories are harmonised to ensure consistency across member states. The €10 million turnover threshold proposed in the motion would capture a significant number of companies that are currently classified as small enterprises under EU definitions. Imposing full audit and disclosure requirements on these businesses would represent a disproportionate regulatory burden, particularly for family-owned and regionally based retailers that operate on relatively narrow margins.

The motion’s reference to foreign operators raises additional legal and enforcement challenges. Many of the grocery retailers operating in Ireland are subsidiaries or branches of companies based in other EU member states. These companies are subject to the same harmonised thresholds and reporting obligations under their respective national laws. Attempting to impose additional or divergent requirements on them would create conflict within the EU internal market rules and expose the State to legal challenges.

Third, the enforcement mechanisms proposed in the motion, such as compulsory information requests and expanded investigative powers, could place a significant administrative burden on retailers, particularly small- and medium-sized enterprises. As currently drafted, the motion does not differentiate between large multinational chains and smaller independent retailers. The lack of proportionality risks diverting resources away from core business activities and increasing compliance costs across the board. The Department of enterprise, and in particular the Minister, Deputy Burke, have carried out significant reforms with regard to reducing bureaucracy and red tape. The proposals in the motion would add an additional layer to independent businesses that already have significant concerns about the time and resources needed to run a small business in this country. These increased costs may ultimately be passed onto the consumer in the form of higher prices, therefore undermining the main objective of the motion, which is to reduce financial pressures on households. It is essential that the new regulatory measures strike the right balance between effective oversight and the need to maintain a competitive and effective retail sector.

Finally, the CCPC has advised my officials that its existing powers under the Competition and Consumer Protection Act 2014 are sufficient to analyse markets, request information for undertakings and take enforcement action where necessary. These powers have been actively used in recent years, including in high-profile investigations and prosecutions. In 2024 and 2025, for example, the CCPC successfully prosecuted several retailers for breaches of price indication and sale pricing regulations. In these cases, the courts ordered the offending retailers to pay legal costs and make charitable donations as part of the settlement.

As part of the Government’s broader action plan on competitiveness and productivity, we have committed to strengthening competition and consumer protection enforcement. The Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment is currently developing legislative provisions that will enhance the CCPC’s capacity to respond to evolving market challenges. It is intended to introduce turnover-based fines for serious breaches of consumer law, ensuring that penalties are proportionate to the scale of the offending business. These reforms are designed to ensure that the CCPC is equipped with the tools it needs to protect consumers without imposing unnecessary burdens on compliant businesses.

In light of the existing regulatory framework, the active enforcement of consumer protection law and the significant reforms already under way, the Government does not believe that the additional power proposed in the Private Members’ motion are necessary or proportionate. We therefore oppose the motion in its current form and recommend a more targeted, evidence-based approach to strengthening transparency and competition in the grocery sector.

To that end, I propose the following targeted actions to further support consumers and enhance oversight. In line with the programme for Government, we are progressing legislative reforms to enhance the CCPC’s enforcement powers, including the ability to impose stronger sanctions for breaches of consumer protection law. This will ensure that anti-consumer or exploitative practices can be tackled more effectively and with greater deterrent effect. The CCPC’s ongoing work on the state of competition in Ireland provides a robust evidence base to assess market dynamics across all sectors of the economy. We will continue to engage with the CCPC on the potential for further analysis of pricing and margin trends where appropriate. We will continue to support public awareness campaigns and the development of digital tools to ensure consumers can compare prices, understand their rights and make informed purchasing decisions. Empowering consumers with information is one of the most effective ways to promote competition and drive down prices.

In conclusion, the Government shares the concerns and motivation of the Private Members’ motion and we believe the most effective way to address these concerns is through targeted, proportionate and evidence-based interventions. We are already taking significant steps to strengthen consumer protection, enhance regulatory oversight and ensure that the grocery sector operates in a fair and competitive manner. We remain open to constructive dialogue with all Members of the House on how best to support consumers and promote transparency in the retail sector. However, we do not believe that the measures proposed in this motion, as currently drafted, represent the most effective or proportionate way forward. For these reasons, we will be opposing the motion and instead committing to a more balanced and strategic approach to reform.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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I thank the Minister of State for her contribution. There were certainly some standout parts in her speech and I will pick out a few of them, if I may. To provide the context in which a motion such as this is brought to the Chamber, and I appreciate the Government understands the motivation of the Social Democrats for doing so, we should reiterate that throughout Ireland parents are skipping meals so their children do not go hungry. That is not a trend that started this year; it has been ongoing and captured by a number of agencies, including One Parent Family, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul and a multitude of agencies working in the area of poverty. They have highlighted that parents are literally skipping meals. They choose between heating and eating during the colder months of the year. They are worried about buying shoes. We should also recognise that a measurement of poverty in the State is the absence of a second pair of shoes and a warm coat. Yesterday my party's leader, Deputy O'Callaghan, spoke about people not being able to afford a birthday present and, therefore, children not going to parties. Children and their parents in this country are not taking on recreational activities precisely because they live in poverty. This poverty is insidious throughout the fibre of Irish society.

Not only does poverty cost and erode the very condition of a person, but it also costs the State more than €4 billion a year. Yesterday, Barnardos told us that 40% of parents have borrowed money just to cover essentials and one third have fallen into arrears on their energy bills. We know all of this but, at the same time, people now pay more than €3,000 a year for the exact same weekly shop they got last year. There is no transparency in how the prices are set and who is making the profits. When the Minister of State and the Government tell us that the €10 million turnover threshold proposed in the motion would capture a significant number of companies classified as small enterprises under an EU definition, and that imposing a full audit and disclosure requirement on these businesses would represent a disproportionate regulatory burden, particularly for family-owned regionally based retailers that operate on relatively narrow margins, I cannot help but think of the average family in this country, whether they may be in rural areas or in Dublin. They have seen the price of their grocery shop increase by €3,000 in a short space of time. Can we imagine the burden this places on their family budget? Can we imagine the choice they have to determine between what they have for dinner today and what they may go without so the children do not have to? This is the type of burden at the heart of this.

We can measure poverty and I have just spoken about the indicators. The indicators are precisely what people go without. We cannot measure abundance, however, if we do not have data and evidence to understand who is making what profits and where. All we are asking for in the motion is precisely this. We are asking the companies to tell us what they make so we understand whether profiteering is happening. When the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, brought in the retailers for the photo opportunity in 2023, he assured us he would get tough on these retailers. I would argue that the evidence is in the cupboards of people the length and breadth of this country. All the Social Democrats are asking for in the motion is transparency for companies earning more than €10 million. I do not think too many companies that have an income of €10 million would self-identify as small local shops-----

Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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It is not profit, it is turnover. There is a big difference.

Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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Yes, I appreciate that but the point remains. I appreciate a local shop does not have a €10 million turnover but it comes to the same thing. We are not asking for this burden to be placed on the local shop in any town; we are asking for it to be placed on the big retailers that we know have profiteered on the very basics that people need in their presses.

I do not accept the justifications given in the contribution of the Minister of State. I appreciate that her motivation is not in any way to undermine, but this contribution from the Government is an insult to people who are simply asking to be shown the abundance the supermarkets are taking from people in genuine need. That is all we are asking for and I do not think it is too harsh.

Jen Cummins (Dublin South Central, Social Democrats)
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In recent days, the Chamber has spoken about the cost of living and how it affects education. To provide the bigger picture of what the cost of living for families is at present, if we look at it through the lens of education, which in my opinion is the foundation for our society, we have voluntary contributions for schools because schools cannot afford to keep the heating on. Parents are not fundraisers, they are taxpayers. We have hot school meals in our schools. I worked in education disadvantage for a very long time. Hot meals in schools came about because children go to school hungry. Yesterday, we heard that families do not have enough food in their homes so parents are reducing their own meal sizes or cutting them out altogether so they can feed their children.

When schoolbook schemes and other such schemes are rolled out, they are very welcome. I want to put on the record that we are constantly told by the Government that we want everything for everyone. We want targeted measures. The roll-out of schoolbooks is universal, whether or not someone is a millionaire. When a scheme is rolled out for everyone, then everyone is included. This includes all parts of education. Unfortunately, the students who were here until very late last night are wondering whether their fees will increase. It is an omnishambles. If families already pay €3,000 more for food than they did last year and now there will be another €1,000 for third level fees, I cannot compute how the Government does not see there is a cost-of-living crisis or how increasing the fees will put pressure on families. I said last night in the Chamber that John Dewey said, "Education is a social process; education is growth; education is not preparation for life but is life itself." It is a failure if families cannot afford to send their children to university. Education at third level, and not only at primary and secondary levels, is a human right.

I will reiterate some of the debate that happened last night because the Minister of State could not be there because of time pressures. The cost of accommodation for students in Ireland is approximately €1,200 per month. In Germany, in a big city such as Berlin, it is €300 to €500. The cost of transport is very high for students here in comparison with other European countries. The cost of the groceries that students also have to buy is at an all-time high. Students are being prevented from accessing their human right to education. Last night, the Minister of State, Deputy Harkin, said there are other education pathways and this is true. As she said, students can do apprenticeships and earn as they learn. However, students should be able to go to college here at whatever level they want and not be prevented because of financial reasons. The cost of groceries is really not helping the situation for families.

Rory Hearne (Dublin North-West, Social Democrats)
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CSO figures published today show Ireland's national income rose by 4.8% last year and GDP rose by 7.4%. According to these fiscal indicators, Ireland is doing well, but in reality there are two Irelands. There are those who are doing okay, a minority, and there is the majority, who at some level are struggling in one way or another to cover the basic costs of living. In fact, even the concept of the cost of living is deeply disturbing. The basic costs to survive are now unaffordable for most people in this country. One third of parents have gone into arrears on energy bills and 28% state they do not have enough food to feed their children. A total of 12% use a food bank. Last week, I visited a food bank in Finglas run by Feed our Homeless. The group stated that the biggest growth in those who need its food is among working families. Working families are relying on food banks to survive to get through the week.

I went outside SuperValu in Finglas this week and spoke to people about the cost of their grocery shop and the Social Democrats tabling the motion. One man told me he saw the price of a pack of six rashers increase by 75 cent in one jump. That is a 37.5% increase. The number of rashers per packet has also been reduced to five, so it is actually a 66% increase on a per rasher basis. This is shrinkflation, which is covering up the gougeflation done by supermarkets. Another woman advised me that she has seen the price of her shop increase weekly and that she is nervous going to the till, wondering whether she will be able to cover it. Another woman told me how she now splits her shop now across multiple supermarkets to find the cheapest possible product. When I spoke to her, she was at her third supermarket of the day, spending hours going from shop to shop to feed her family. This is unsustainable. The price gouging should not be tolerated when people are suffering and struggling to get by.

I do my shop each week for three young kids and I see the large increase in the cost of trying to feed a family in this country. This is even more expensive for parents of children with disabilities, carers, lone parents and those in homelessness. It reveals the Government's lack of priority for working people and for most people. It is not willing to stand up to the supermarkets. It gives nice words and states it is taking action but we need to see real action for the people struggling, and for middle Ireland and working-class people, who are being absolutely gouged by these supermarkets and the big retail companies.

I encourage the Minister of State to support our motion and take some real action on this.

Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein)
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Cuirim fáilte roimh an rún seo ó na Social Democrats. Sinn Féin will be supporting this motion. By any measure the Government has failed to get to grips with the cost-of-living crisis. It is either doing nothing or making things worse. If we name any of the issues, we can see that we are paying more. The price of everything has gone absolutely through the roof, from energy bills to rent, insurance and childcare. It is all going one way and that is up. The cost of the weekly shop is now €3,000 more per annum for many families. People are working harder and harder but they cannot keep up. Fine Gael's Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, gave supermarkets six weeks to cut prices. That was over a year ago. It was just an embarrassing PR stunt by the Government. Since then, food prices have gone up faster and faster. There have been 50,000 phone calls to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul by families who cannot afford food, and the Government has just sat back and done nothing. It has ignored people's reality. People are getting fleeced and the reality is that the Government still has no idea of what is going on. It has no oversight of the profits or pricing of the large retailers and supermarkets. Farmers have been getting squeezed for years but now consumers are being ripped off and someone in the middle is profiting off all of this suffering. Do not try to spin the yarn that there is nothing to see here. The stock prices of supermarkets and the large retailers and food companies have been going through the roof. They have been skyrocketing in recent times. Tesco's stock is up 30% in the last year. United Natural Foods Inc., the owners of SuperValu, saw its stock price rise by 60% in the last year. It is time that the Minister of State took action. The Taoiseach said that he has the guts to take on price gouging, so he should show it because we need to make food affordable. We have seen action taken in other jurisdictions by other governments right across Europe, but here in this country and here with this do-nothing Government, people are being ripped off and the Government is sitting on its hands. It is not acceptable any more.

Johnny Guirke (Meath West, Sinn Fein)
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The rising cost of food has been a worry for many families. Food inflation is now running at double the rate of general inflation, with many families being forced to fork out an additional €3,000 per year just to keep food on the table. The prices of the likes of meat, cheese bread and beef have skyrocketed. The cost of a pound of butter has increased by more than €1 in the last year alone. The economist Oliver Browne has calculated that grocery prices have increased by 36% over the past four years. Meanwhile, more than 103,000 calls for help have been made to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul this year, with nearly half of those requests related to food support. We see it everywhere, from the cost of baby food putting enormous strain on families to students facing soaring fees and no meaningful support in the upcoming budget. I do not blame small retail shops in villages right across Ireland. They are struggling to keep the lights on and the doors open. What needs urgent attention are the wholesalers and the larger supermarkets, which are driving these price hikes with price gouging.

Workers in this country have never worked so hard, yet they have very little to show for it. Approximately 70% of people said that they were concerned about the cost of living. Almost 20% of families have had to cut back on heating costs in the past six months, according to research from Barnardos on the impact of the rising cost of living. Two in five people say that they are going without other essentials, including food and medical appointments. The Government has ruled out any meaningful cost-of-living support but there is no surprise there given that there is no election this year. Families and workers cannot afford to wait on political games; they need action. Profiteering is no doubt part of the cause of many families struggling. This Government needs to examine the root of those making millions. It is time for the Government to recognise this crisis and take concrete steps to support families, workers and small retailers and shops. At the end of the day, no one should have to choose between feeding their family and paying their bills.

Máire Devine (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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The cost of every single aspect of life in Ireland has been on a constant upward trajectory since Covid arrived in 2020. Yes, we can point to Russia's invasion of Ukraine as a cause for the increase in energy costs, which in turn caused food prices to increase around the world, but when energy costs eventually decreased, our food and goods prices did not follow. Supply costs are impacted by the global climate emergency, yet Ireland is not making the efforts necessary to meet its climate goals.

A family in my constituency recently talked to me. They are choosing between insuring their home or their health or putting food on the table. The price of everything have gone up, in particular milk, butter and other dairy products. Prices overall have increased by over 30%. If a typical family of four were paying €120 per week on groceries before Covid, then the annual price increase is now crippling and hard-earned money does not go far. Where exactly does the increase go? We have seen Tesco's stock prices increase by 30% and SuperValu's stock by nearly 61%, well outpacing prospective market index increase rates, while farmers are getting squeezed. We need transparency. The Social Democrats are calling for this. We need accountability.

Food banks are experiencing a massive increase in demand and more children are living in poverty and homelessness than ever before. It is shameful. What we see around our city is shameful. The Minister of State's avoidant response reminds one of the sarcastic expression that has been around since the 1920s, "What's that got to do with the price of bread?" A cost-of-living package is essential. Please provide one.

Joanna Byrne (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Social Democrats for putting forward this timely and worthwhile motion. This is an important issue that affects everyone in the State at this time. Everyone knows that Ireland is one of the most expensive states in Europe for groceries. The gap between us and our European neighbours looks to be growing year on year. Some prices could be understandable but when we look at the EU Commission website and see that non-alcoholic beverages are the most expensive in Ireland, at 40% above the EU average, it makes no sense. It is the epitome of the rip-off Ireland that faces us today. We all see it. Grocery prices have increased at three times the rate of general inflation over the past year alone. If that were a cost to the great and the good, as the Government sees them, then the Government would act. Because it is the general public, however, that is affected most by the huge increase in grocery prices, the Government is taking its usual hands-off approach, citing some obscure report that backs its reasons for sitting on its hands and ignoring the facts that shoppers see weekly in their grocery bills. The Government has abandoned households as prices continue to soar. One hundred and 12 weeks ago, the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, gave the major supermarket groups a six-week ultimatum to bring down the cost of groceries. We are still waiting and the consequences of that are stark.

The damning Barnardos cost-of-living 2025 report released yesterday shows that Government policies are failing families and, worse still, are failing children. The report highlighted how families are scrambling to gather an additional €3,000 per year just to put food on the table. It highlighted that 40% of parents are skipping meals, that 12% of parents are using food banks, that 40% of parents are borrowing money and that 19% of families cut back or go without food. Let that sink in for a minute. This is the reality of where we are in 2025. The Government’s response to this motion is not reality. Stop sitting on your hands and get up and make the changes that are needed now. Childhood is the first thing poverty steals from any child, and this is rampant in our society. Unfortunately, it is under the Government’s watch.

Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)
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The cost-of-living is too high but the Government is in complete denial about this reality. It seems to believe that the cost-of-living crisis is over and it is ruling out a cost-of-living package while households struggle. It is clear the Government is totally out of touch. Every week in my clinics, I have people coming in to me who are struggling to make ends meet, with high energy costs, rent and childcare and fuel costs, not to mention the student fees that the Government is now determined to increase. People just cannot take it any more. They need support from the Government.

The weekly shop in particular is going up. Between 2020 and 2025, the cost of a pound of butter has increased by 58%, the cost of a litre of milk has risen by 38% and the cost of a loaf of bread has risen by 29%. I have not seen any data to suggest that wages have gone up by the same amount. These are all basics. Families with young growing children face the choice to provide food or to manage other bills. The scale of the suffering is clear. We have seen tens of thousands of calls to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul from people seeking help to pay for food. Having access to food is a basic in a functioning society, not a luxury, yet too many families across the State are experiencing food poverty. How is this acceptable to the Government? At the same time, we see supermarkets operating in Ireland making eye-watering profits. It is certainly not the primary producers like farmers who are benefiting from this. For example, Tesco announced in April that it had generated an operating profit of over €3 billion between its Irish and British stores.

While this is just one example, it is plain to see that profiteering is ongoing across the sector. There is a lack of transparency around supermarket profits, specifically through their stores based in Ireland. The Government needs to hold these companies accountable and all options have to be on the table, including direct intervention to stop supermarkets from hiking prices without justification. The Government must introduce a cost-of-living package without delay. Families across the State are depending on it and it needs to step up to the plate.

Paul Donnelly (Dublin West, Sinn Fein)
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The fact of the matter is that normal working families are being affected by a cost-of-living crisis. This Government has lost control of it. Week on week, families see their shopping bills rise and rise, and the Government is burying its head in the sand, ignoring people's hardships and refusing to bring forward a cost-of-living package. Even the conscious shopper using the so-called low-cost supermarkets and purchasing own brand is finding that these brands are rising faster than the traditional brands. I know families where parents are going without food to make sure that children can eat and have essentials such as nappies and baby formula, which are often the most expensive in the trolley. Elderly people have to make a choice between eating or heating. Renters have to balance between buying essential food supplies and making sure that they can meet their rent at the end of the month.

Everyone understands that businesses have costs, that they have to be viable and they have to make profits, but the profits are eye-watering. Tesco made a €120 million profit in Ireland. United Natural Foods, owners of SuperValu, reported a turnover exceeding €5 billion for the first time, with profits of €104 million. We only have the figures for the North for Dunnes Stores; we do not have them for the Twenty-six Counties. Its £3.8 million in profits soared last year to £12.7 million. All these super profits are being made while people are unable to afford their weekly bills.

This Government is complicit in the hardships inflicted on hardworking families, including education costs, food prices, rent prices and lack of housing. It goes on and on. It is time to stand up for ordinary families and ordinary workers and ensure that they can make ends meet at the end of the week.

Thomas Gould (Cork North-Central, Sinn Fein)
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The price of butter has risen, according to the CSO, by 58% in 12 months. A staple in every house in the country has risen by nearly 60%. The CSO consumer price index shows that the prices of the most basic items have increased and the Government is doing nothing about it. For pensioners, those with disabilities, people with low incomes and families, this makes a difference between whether people go hungry or not. It is not just the most vulnerable in society. It is now hitting middle-class families and forcing people to make choices who never thought they were going to have to make choices, but now they do. Does the Minister of State know what is happening now? People are not shopping to put food on the table which is good for them or their kids, but they are shopping to buy the cheapest, whether it is the right food or not. How is that a right way for parents to have to react to look after their families? They have no choice. Christy Moore's song "Ordinary Man" has a line:

Well it seems to me such a cruel irony

He's richer now than ever he was before

The captains of industry are richer now than ever before, while ordinary people are forced to penny-pinch and cut back on luxuries to afford the most basic necessities. Christy Moore wrote that song years ago. It was as true then as it is now. The captains of industry and these big companies are making obscene profits and the Government is standing idly by like the Government stands idly by on so many things, because this Government of Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael is more interested in protecting big business, speculators and profiteers than it is in looking after the ordinary man and woman in the street, the ordinary person who needs protection. It is time that the Minister of State acts.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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I call an Teachta David Cullinane. Two speakers are listed but there is just the Teachta here at the moment.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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I will take all the time. That is great. I commend the Labour Party on tabling this motion.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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The Social Democrats.

David Cullinane (Waterford, Sinn Fein)
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Sorry, the Social Democrats. They have given us an opportunity to have this discussion. If you talk to anybody in the real world, the cost of living is one of the biggest issues impacting workers and families. People are paying huge amounts of money on mortgages, rents, childcare and insurance costs. Almost everything is going up. That includes the price of groceries and food. It seems everybody is aware of this with the exception of the Government. It is unbelievable to people that while prices are going up, the Government is setting its face against any cost-of-living package in the upcoming budget. It seems to be saying that it knows prices are going up but people are on their own and there is nothing it is going to do about it. That is outrageous. The Government is abandoning people who are hard pressed and cannot afford to pay basic bills.

As previous speakers have said, far too many families are unfortunately sitting around the table in their homes, making decisions about what bill to pay or not to pay. As Deputy Gould said, in some circumstances, they may be purchasing food that is not the best food for their children but it is the cheapest food and they have no other option. I have lost count of the number of people who have raised this with me. We all see it. None of us is immune to it but we are well paid in this House. There are people who are on much less than us and are trying to make ends meet and pay all of the bills, and they are finding it impossible. While they are finding it impossible, they have a Government which is telling them there is nothing it will do.

A Minister had a high-profile meeting with the main retailers about the price of groceries and food before the last election. He talked tough, stuck his chest out and said we are going to deal with this, then nothing happened. We have to look at what legal levers are there and what we can do. If those legal levers are not there, then we have to create them. If that means new legislation, that is what we have to do. Some of the profits have been outlined for some of these big multiples. They make billions of euro every year in profits. Prices go up which are unjustified in most circumstances and really hit hard-pressed families. As a State, Parliament and legislators, us throwing our hands up in the air and saying there is nothing we can do about it will not be and is not being accepted by people.

I obviously support the asks in the motion. We have to look at mandatory price arrangements and transparency. We have to make sure there is absolute transparency when it comes to pricing of food right across the board. That is obvious, but it is not happening. We also have to look at how we force these multiples to reduce the cost of food and how we stop them from jacking up prices, which they are doing out of pure greed and pure profiteering. I simply do not accept that that is beyond the Government or beyond Parliament. I suspect the Government simply does not have the stomach for this. It does not have the political will to deal with it, and that is worse. Saying that, at the moment, it has very limited powers, that it is doing everything it can but it is not really making any difference is one thing, to which I would argue that we should get more powers and change the law, but it is entirely different if the Government is indifferent. People feel that the Government is indifferent to their needs and indifferent to the rising costs of insurance. Deputy Pearse Doherty had a Bill passed in this House which has still not been enacted by Government to deal with the rising cost of insurance.

It seems to be the case in every area. When it comes to rents, the Opposition has put forward practical measures on how we can control rents, stop rent increases, and make sure the tax credit is much more generous than what the Government is doing. In almost all of these areas, the Opposition is putting forward proposals and solutions, yet the Government is ignoring them. We do not have affordable homes. We have mortgages and affordable houses in the region of €400,000, €500,000 or even more. It is unbelievable that, in a country that is very wealthy, we have so many people who are very poor and so many working people who cannot afford to pay for basic services. That is on the Government. There is no doubt about it. We can control rent prices. We can provide affordable homes. We could deal with the insurance industry if we wanted to. In my view, we can deal with the rising cost of food, but we have a Government that is indifferent. We have a Government which seems to think with regard to all of these areas that people should plough on, with all of the stress and mental health difficulties that go with it, and that mothers, fathers and working families across the State should just be let get on with it.

I do not believe that is acceptable. An awful lot more needs to be done. I am not satisfied at all with the contribution from the Minister and the response from Government so a lot more needs to be done. I thank the Social Democrats for bringing forward this very worthwhile motion and giving us the opportunity to discuss it.

Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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I move amendment No. 1 to amendment No. 1:

After "compare prices and make informed choices" to insert:

"calls on the Government to:

— commit to passing the Competition and Consumer Protection (Unfair Prices) Bill 2023; and

— instead of using over €700 million to cut the rate of Value Added Tax on hospitality in Budget 2026, to use these hundreds of millions to reduce child poverty with a targeted second tier of child benefit, and other measures to provide income supports to households.".

I thank the Social Democrats for moving this motion. My amendment is designed to do two things. First, Government ought to allow for Labour's Competition and Consumer Protection (Unfair Prices) Bill 2023 to pass. That Bill was published in 2023 and debated on Second Stage in the House in late May. Frankly, there were fewer Members in attendance at the debate then than there are here this morning. Second, the amendment proposes that instead of using over €700 million to cut the rate of VAT on hospitality in budget 2026, the Government should use these hundreds of millions of euro to reduce child poverty with a targeted second tier of child benefit and other measures to provide income supports to households. There are the choices this House will have to make over the next couple of months - a hand up to children to give them every chance of a good life or a handout to Supermac's and McDonald's.

I will not rehearse the figures on how the price of basic staples we all need have risen week on week over the past three years. They are on the record. The early price rises of groceries on the shelves at the start of this cost-of-living crisis were quite easily explained by post-Covid demand followed by war in Europe. We all understood and continue to understand that. However, what is not sufficiently clear is why the price of products we need and take for granted are still rising endlessly while input costs are under control. Some of them have plateaued and come down but big businesses in the supermarket sector continue to post exceptional profits. This is the point. If it walks, talks and acts like price gouging at the check out, it may very well be.

The question is: what does the Legislature do about it? I provided one solution. It is contained in the Bill I referred to. We should make the huge multinational supermarkets operating here publish their profits. The Bill was published in May 2023 and debated on Second Stage in late May of this year. Its core idea and some of the text are essentially referenced in this very welcome motion from the Social Democrats but the Government has delayed its advancement to Committee Stage by a year. The question is why the Government decided to do that when in May 2023, in response to Labour's campaigning on high grocery prices, the then Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Simon Coveney, said he would do just that. He is on record as saying that this is a good idea but the Government has done nothing since. He said that if price rises continued, he would haul the supermarkets in, bring them to heel and enact his own legislation to make them publish their profits in Ireland and give the CCPC more market surveillance and enforcement powers.

I heard the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, on the "News at One" on RTÉ Radio last Friday. He said all the right things. He is well briefed. He also said that what we need now is the evidence to take the appropriate action and that process is under way. What process is under way? None, I would venture. Like Ministers, I like to make my decisions based on evidence. The Minister of State said that he would ask the CCPC to do a rerun of the analysis it did on grocery prices in mid-2023 - the one that managed to conclude somehow that there was no evidence of price gouging and excessive pricing in Ireland even though it could not possibly make a conclusive determination on that because it had no information of any quality on the very profits the companies it was supposed to be examining were making. Riddle me that. This is the "Father Ted" approach to the cost-of-living crisis in Ireland. It is the equivalent of "Can anything be said for another mass? Let's do another report." It is a fool's errand. Without clear information and without compelling the supermarkets to publish their profits, we will have no reliable data. Because we do not know their margins, we will not know how they price products and hard-pressed punters will continue to be kept in the dark - just how the big chains want it and all sustained by a Government that will not rock the boat in a situation where there is also a real risk that the very limited competition in the supermarket sector in Ireland could lead to abuses of dominant positions with both the business environment and consumers ending up paying the price.

The proposals I made in our Bill are modest. The proposals in the Social Democrats' motion are modest. They are realistic, reasonable and pragmatic. I would not for a minute overstate what its provisions would achieve but it would bring greater transparency. It would help us to stand up for the customer once and for all and help make major businesses in this country more accountable. It baffles me why any Government is hostile to that.

Conor Sheehan (Limerick City, Labour)
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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.

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
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This motion is necessary, urgent and overdue and I thank the Social Democrats for bringing it forward. People are carrying the cost of a crisis they have nothing to do with. We can continuously talk about taking measures to deal with rising costs, and the Social Democrats outlined actions relating to it. Change the legislation and take action to bring about the necessary structural changes or we can go on forever every single year talking about the marginalised and refusing to address the question that the economic model has marginalised people and not the other way around. Everybody from Barnardos to Social Justice Ireland to the CSO have given us figures and they can all be quoted here today but it is those on the lowest incomes who are always most affected by the inequality in society, not us standing in our feet here with good salaries and not anybody else on a good salary. It affects those whom the system has disempowered and disabled and who are not allowed to participate because they are struggling on a daily basis to pay for bread, milk or butter; to pay rent that keeps rising; and wondering where their mortgage repayments are going to come from. We continuously go on with the same economic model. I am not here to preach. I am here as a practical woman. I am here as someone who has the privilege of living and working in different backgrounds. I am sick, sore and tired of talking about the marginalised as if they are inevitable when they are a direct consequence of the economic model we have as is our housing crisis.

We have here a very practical motion that asks us to do a number of things to bring transparency and accountability. It proposes changing legislation. What sticks out in the motion is the reference to a letter sent by the Agri-Food Regulator to the Minister stating what it needed. The reply from the Minister of State has utterly ignored that. There are practical steps that can be taken and absolutely nothing has been given in relation to them. The regulator sent a letter saying there was a gap on the ground and it could not function effectively. It wrote months ago and nothing has happened.

We can look at the figures. Low-income households are disproportionately affected because, quite clearly, they use a greater amount of their income on necessities. I think I have gone over time so I will finish.

Charles Ward (Donegal, 100% Redress Party)
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I thank the Social Democrats for bringing forward this very important motion, which I fully support. There is no doubt skyrocketing grocery prices coupled with huge increases in other household costs, like energy and rent, are putting huge strain on families across the country.

Right now families in Donegal find themselves caught in a pincer movement between the cost-of-living crisis and the defective concrete scandal. This is on top of long-standing geographic and infrastructural neglect. This is not anecdotal. The figures speak to structural disadvantage in Donegal. According to the CSO figures for 2021 Donegal had the lowest disposable income in Ireland at more than 20% below the national average. The county is severely disadvantaged in terms of workforce distribution. The clusters of high-income sectors are in urban areas. We have no rail network, poor broadband and little access to employment outside tourism or seasonal work. The exclusion limits access to high-paying jobs and remote opportunities. This inequality significantly worsens the cost-of-living strain on people in my county. Rent is astronomical and supply minimal. The Taoiseach, in response to my question yesterday, pointed out there were 2,000 families at some stage in the defective concrete scheme, but as it is in progress where are these people to go? Where are they to rent? There is absolutely nowhere. Delays in payments means builders are taking longer than expected. Auxiliary grants that were granted may have been paid to homeowners who did not breach the cap but have long since run out, leaving homeowners to try to pay for a mortgage and pay rent. How can families be expected to manage this while they have the lowest disposable income in the State?

Defective concrete adds an unbearable cost to an already desperate cost-of-living crisis. Families are facing the impossible decision between sending their children to college or allocating the funds to rebuilding a structurally failing home. Should they choose to pay rent for an indefinite period or halt their education, healthcare and essential living costs? Should they face bankruptcy or remain stuck in an unsafe house? In Donegal we have more than a cost-of-living crisis. We have rising grocery prices and the significant injustice of neglect worsening an already ill-conceived scheme. Families in Donegal should not have to decide between their children’s education and a safe home. They should not have to be charged VAT twice on levies in a broken system and they should not face predatory contract practices while being abandoned by infrastructure and economic investment. They face all this while experiencing a 40% increase in weekly grocery prices alongside families across the country. This is about restoring dignity, opportunities and fairness. We need to fix the scheme, fix rents, fix rebuilds and fix Donegal’s future.

Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Independent)
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I welcome the motion from the Social Democrats. It is very important and opportune. Families across the country are struggling to make ends meet. The cost-of-living crisis is an ongoing crisis that is no longer temporary or once-off. Everything is going in one direction, which is up. This includes food prices, energy prices, rents, mortgages and transport. Energy prices, for instance, have increased significantly over the years and never come down. Our energy prices are one of the highest, if not the highest, in Europe. The Barnardos cost-of-living impact report yesterday confirmed a third of Irish families are in arrears with the their energy bills.

Grocery prices have similarly increased by a significant figure of over 36% in the last few years. That represents an increase in grocery bills for the average family of about €3,000 per year. Grocery prices are currently running at at least three times the rate of inflation. Prices of items like bread, milk, pasta and butter have skyrocketed. Supermarkets are gouging consumers and making huge profits, which are increasing annually. Unfortunately, we do not know the exact level of these profits because we have no evidence. These supermarkets either do not publish their annual audited figures or they effectively hide their profits, so we need an evidence-based system and information by law where these companies are forced to produce annual audited accounts.

Yesterday’s Barnardos report on the impact of the cost-of-living on families is hugely concerning and shameful. It states 12% of families now use a food bank, that 40% of them either skipped or reduced meal portions to ensure their children have enough to eat and that a third of families are in arrears with their energy bills. These are frightening statistics showing families are under huge pressure. It indicates the Minister of State’s Government is completely out of touch with a population that is under severe pressure in this area. To suggest there would be no cost-of-living package in the forthcoming budget is difficult to believe. That a government, in the face of all the evidence available, would claim there is no need for such a package is equally so.

I absolutely support the call by the Social Democrats for all retailers with a turnover of over €10 million to publish full, audited annual accounts and that the Consumer Protection Act be amended to compel disclosure of information. That is very important.

I strongly support Deputy Nash’s amendment to the motion. We have 250,000 children living in poverty in this State. The figure has not reduced in five years and it is shameful. A second tier of child benefit should target this issue in the upcoming budget.

Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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Ireland is the second-most expensive country in Europe. It is quite incredible we have a situation where parents are lying awake at night not knowing how they are going to pay certain bills. I know parents who, as soon as their monthly wages drop in, go into another overdraft to keep them going until the wages next come in. The Barnardos report yesterday was absolutely shocking. For some reason we have considered this to be an extremely wealthy country, but so many families here are living just on the margins when it comes to being able to cover their costs. That there are 250,000 children in poverty is an indictment of this Government and its policies.

One of the biggest creators of inflation and cost in the country is the Government. It took in €4.1 billion in energy taxes last year. It is incredible. It took in more in energy taxes last year in the jaws of a cost-of-living crisis than has ever been collected before. Carbon taxes topped €1 billion last year and it is hardwired in that they are going to continue to rise for the next five years.

Another problem in this State is the supermarket sector and the food processing sector are both oligopolies. They have been allowed develop into oligopolies and they have oligopoly power. Their strong buyer power means can force down the prices coming from farmers, whether they are in arable or meat.

A small number of these sectors with enormous power are pushing down the prices for the people who are providing the food and, at the other end, they are actually pushing up the prices of products going to the families. They have been allowed to operate in this regard by the Government for many years.

I met staff from the food regulator's office recently. They told me about an investigation they did into the price of eggs. They said they went into a number of different supermarkets, including Aldi, Lidl, Dunnes Stores, and asked for the price of eggs in those locations. They were told, "No, tough, you are not getting the information." The Government was so brave. It gave the power to the food regulator to ask the companies for information, but those companies can still give the two fingers to the food regulator and say, "Absolutely not." The Government needs to give the power to compel that information to the food regulator so we can understand exactly what is happening in these companies as to how they are gouging the customer.

I welcome this motion by the Social Democrats. I am worried that the Government will sit on its hands as usual and families will be assaulted over and over again by these costs.

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Independent)
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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.

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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The Irish people are resilient, but resilience should not be mistaken for indifference, nor should the quiet dignity of the Irish people and their endurance be used as an excuse for Government inaction. We are over three years into the cost-of-living crisis and it has touched every home, every dinner table and every shopping list. I speak regularly to parents who are cutting corners and going to bed hungry themselves so their children can eat. I see older people counting coins at tills. I see working families doing everything right yet falling short, living paycheque to paycheque, only a few paycheques away from financial ruin.

The price of butter is up 58%. Milk has increased by 25%. Cheese prices have soared by 38%. A basic basket now costs over €3,000 more than it did in 2022. That is not just inflation; that is an erosion of dignity, financial stability and a fundamental social contract that says that if you work hard, you should be able to live in security. Yet this Government has chosen not to deliver a cost-of-living package, with no meaningful reliefs and no comprehensive plan.

As regards the response from the Taoiseach yesterday to a question from my colleague to the effect that there is a regulator, I have no faith in this Government, nor do I have faith in the man who was part of a Government that left a financial regulator ruin this country in 2008. That is the faith we have here. While I agree with and am open to free enterprise, there is price gouging going on here and it is unacceptable.

I commend this motion and thank the Social Democrats for it.

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

Michael Collins (Cork South-West, Independent Ireland Party)
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I thank the Social Democrats and will support this very important motion.

Since 2021, grocery costs have surged nearly 40%, adding €3,000 to annual family expenses and pushing more than 100,000 children into consistent poverty. These are some examples. Brennan's white bread, 800 g, increased from €1.87 in 2022 to €1.99 in 2025. Avonmore milk, 2 l, rose from €1.99 to €2.69. Denny sausages, 454 g, went from €2.69 to €3.89. Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate, 110 g, increased from €1.49 to €2.50. A bottle of Coca-Cola rose from €2.65 to €4. A four-pack tin of beans jumped from €3.50 to €5.50. The price for 1 kg of chicken breast surged from €4.99 to €10.99. Rooster potatoes, 1 kg, increased from 99 cent to €1.90. Kerrygold butter, 454 g, went from €3.74 to €4.95.

Independent Ireland stands firm on reducing the cost of living, supporting rural, urban and agricultural communities and promoting transparency and fairness in the economic system. However, the Minister of State knows well the figures I have read out. The mother and the father who go into the shop daily and try to pay for their groceries are coming to the point that they cannot. They are walking out trying to see if there is a bargain in the next shop or the previous shop or up and down the street. It is a terrible situation. This Government has provided no supports this year, but last year, before the election, there were supports.

Richard O'Donoghue (Limerick County, Independent Ireland Party)
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That is true.

Gillian Toole (Meath East, Independent)
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I thank the Social Democrats for bringing forward this important subject for discussion. At the risk of being pedantic, I have said it before but I will say it again and continue to say it: there is a very important saying, let food be your medicine. It is the foundation of health. The health basis and the knock-on health effects of this issue are yet to play out. I totally understand the role of the competition authority and the need for the role of the Agri-Food Regulator to be strengthened. That is an area where, as it stands, interference is limited. However, it should not limit us in our suggestions. I will make two suggestions this morning.

We absolutely have to look at a list of essential nourishing foodstuffs for price consideration and perhaps look at establishing, with an independent dietician, that essential list of dietary staples. The reasons for that are twofold: the health benefits but also to ensure a fair price for the farmer or the grower. The knock-on benefit of that will be national resilience. It will also help to secure local rural economies and to ensure the quality and the health benefits of the food product.

I will give the House an example from the Irish Grain Growers group.

Imagine this: the price of grain today, be it wheat, barley or oats, is no more than the price 40 years ago. Yet, all the contributions in this Chamber relate to the current cost to the consumer. The gap in the middle is a serious issue and one that must be dealt with in terms of our sustainability going forward and the viability of farming but also, ultimately, the delivery of a quality, fair-priced product to the consumer.

Danny Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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I thank the Social Democrats for bringing this topic before us today. This topic is in everyone's mouth, that the cost of everything has gone up. There is a major difference between one supermarket and another. There are different prices in different towns. No one can understand who the regulator is, what he is doing or where he is because he is not visible to any of us. The regulator does not seem to be playing an effective role. We see that oil prices fluctuate; they go up and down. We hear the oil price goes down but it takes two or three weeks for fuel prices to go down. If the oil price goes up, fuel prices seem to go up the following morning. They are the things people are talking about. There are monopolies, where certain companies distributing or selling different things seem to have a monopoly and can charge what they like.

People are being advised by several parties and different politicians in this Chamber to go electric. Yet, since Bord na Móna closed down in 2020 the price of electricity has gone up daily. I do not know where the regulator is or who is in charge of that. He does not seem to be there at all. Electricity prices are going up and at the same time people are advised to put in heat pumps and to go electric. They are coming to me with bills of €400, €500 or €600 for whatever the period is and they cannot understand it. Of course, there is a heat pump going and twisting the meter around all day every day, sunny or cold. This is what they were advised to do and it is what they did.

Farmers are not being paid a realistic price. For example, it would not make sense for farmers here in Ireland to sell potatoes to the supermarket because the supermarkets are selling them for less, wherever they are getting them, than they could pay the farmers. Deputy Toole talked about the price of grain, which is at an all-time low. It is grand to come up from Kerry and move into good land along the way and see all the fields of grain and corn turning yellow and gold. However, it is sorrowful to hear that farmers are not being paid properly for that. Where are the regulators? What is happening? Are we importing grain at a cheaper price? We are hurt when we hear that good land is being planted with solar panels - another idea by some geniuses. Food security is important to us. We need to understand that and keep it in mind all the time. We are a small nation and if we have to import a lot of our food, it will become far more expensive.

On the cost of insurance, we hear of all the different things that have been said and done to the insurance companies. Notwithstanding that, insurance goes up every year. Everyone inside here knows it and the people who are paying through the nose every day know it, and there is no regulation. Whatever these regulators are being paid, many of them are not worth their pay because they are not transparent and they do not seem to be acting. We need to see and hear more regulation from them because they do not seem to be visible to me or anyone else at present.

Mattie McGrath (Tipperary South, Independent)
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I compliment the Social Democrats on this very important motion. I do not know whether it will fall on deaf ears but I fear it will, like so many other motions that have gone before. I remember when Deputy Danny Healy-Rae's brother, now Minister of State, Deputy Michael Healy-Rae, and I, along with a small number of IFA activists, worried vegetable and fruit producers, went to some supermarkets here in Dublin. Three trolleys filled up to water level cost less than €12 each. That was unsustainable then and it is more unsustainable now to have food priced at that level. I come from a mixed farm that grew everything. I still grow everything and my brother grows a lot of potatoes. We have every kind of vegetable. Deputy Danny Healy-Rae said it is lovely to see the colour of the corn. The combines have been working since last Thursday in south Tipperary. I visited some of them. It is wonderful to see the harvest. Thanks be to God the weather is so wonderful. However, farmers are being intimidated. They are being killed every which way between the costs of everything for inputs and the price going down. In fairness, cattle, sheep and pigmeat are doing very well this year but that is going to have its own implications. Food security is much threatened going forward. Solar farms are taking over the best of the land in south Tipperary.

As regards the regulators, when I came in here 18 years ago we had a limited number of regulators but now they are like mushrooms in a field of a soft wet morning. There are mushrooms everywhere. There is a regulator for everything and the vast majority of them are useless, toothless and fruitless. They have their office, their title and the plaque on the wall. They have the fancy office desk and a team of employees paid for by the taxpayers. It is the same with the NGOs, hundreds and hundreds of them. The public, and in this case the farmers, are being milked high and dry, pardon the expression. As I said, the regulators are useless, toothless and fruitless. It is so sad. We have the regulators and they have powers but they are totally ineffective. Governments are feeble and inept at insisting and instructing regulators to do their jobs, to do what hard-earned taxpayers' money is paying for them to do. Across all the areas, they are not doing it. The cost of insurance is again an issue at the moment. Various moves were made to bring down the price of insurance but to no avail.

In the food sector, it is so important for families to have good and proper fresh food. It is important for nutrition, as Deputy Toole said. There is nothing like carrots, potatoes, turnips or cabbage fresh out of the fields, with clay on them. Now they are imported from all over the world. There are concerns at the moment about some fruits being imported from Israel. We should support our farmers but, above all, insist that the regulators employed to do a job, do the job. Last night, I talked about the Custom House. What has gone wrong with us here in this Republic that people are paid handsomely to do a job but they are not doing it? We are all in hock to the big conglomerates. Governments are in fear of them, probably in hock to them, and everybody else is as well. Big is wonderful. We will know the cost when all the small producers are gone. They are going. Like snow on a ditch they are disappearing because farming is not viable and they cannot survive. I support the motion and I appeal to the Ministers of State present to ask the regulators to do their jobs.

Jerry Buttimer (Cork South-Central, Fine Gael)
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I am responding on the motion on behalf of the Minister of State, Deputy Dillon. I thank the members of the Social Democrats for their contributions this morning and thank all Members of the House for their varied and interesting comments.

I begin by reiterating that the Government fully acknowledges the concerns raised in this Private Members' motion regarding the rising cost of groceries and the financial strain and burden it places on households, families and people throughout the country. We understand the pressures that families, people and vulnerable groups are facing and we are committed to addressing these challenges in a meaningful and effective way. It is important to emphasise that the Government is not standing still on the issue. We are actively progressing a comprehensive suite of targeted measures designed to support consumers, enhance market transparency and strengthen regulatory oversight in the grocery sector. These actions are grounded in evidence, informed by expert analysis and aligned with our broader commitment to fairness and competition in the marketplace.

We recognise that food inflation has been a persistent concern. While recent trends show some easing, we remain vigilant. I have heard the concerns of Members this morning. I myself shop, despite some of the comments earlier, and there is a genuine concern among everybody about the cost of shopping and the grocery bill and other issues as well.

The Government has already taken significant steps to monitor and respond to developments in the grocery sector. This includes leveraging the expertise of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission, which plays a central role in safeguarding consumer interests and ensuring markets operate fairly and efficiently. In light of the existing regulatory framework, the active enforcement of consumer protection law and the significant reforms already under way, the Government does not believe the additional powers proposed in the Private Members' motion are necessary or proportionate at this time. While we share the objective of protecting consumers and ensuring fair pricing, we must also ensure that any new measures are evidence-based, targeted and capable of delivering real impact without any unintended consequences.

Rather than adopting broad or duplicate powers, the Government recommends a more focused and data-driven approach to strengthening transparency and competition in our grocery sector. This approach is not only more sustainable, it is also more likely to yield tangible benefits for consumers in the short and long term. To that end, the Government is advancing a number of targeted actions, including strengthening the powers of the CCPC; ensuring it has the necessary tools and resources to be able to investigate and address anti-competitive practices effectively; levering the CCPC state of competition analysis, which provides a robust evidence base for identifying market trends, potential distortions and areas requiring intervention; updating the CCPC's 2023 high-level analysis of the Irish grocery retail sector to reflect current market dynamics and inform future policy decisions; supporting consumer empowerment measures, including initiatives to improve price transparency, promote informed purchasing decisions and enhance public awareness of consumer rights. These actions reflect a balanced and proactive strategy which addresses the root causes of concern while preserving the integrity and independence of our regulatory institutions. They also demonstrate the Government's commitment to continuous improvement, accountability and responsiveness to the evolving needs of the Irish consumer.

While we appreciate the intent behind the Private Members' motion and genuinely understand and hear the frustration of people - despite some of the commentary, we are not living in ivory towers and are not aloof; we live among and in our communities - we believe the Government's current and planned measures represent a more effective and proportionate response. We are committed to working collaboratively with all stakeholders, including Members of the House, to ensure our grocery sector remains competitive, transparent and fair for all. The Government will continue to monitor developments closely, adapt our approach as needed and ensure that the interests of consumers remain at the heart of our economic and social policy.

Cian O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay North, Social Democrats)
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With respect, we do not need the Government to continue to monitor events closely. We need it to act and we have needed it to act for a long time.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has told us that almost 50% of the people who ring them do so about groceries - almost 50%. The Barnardos report published yesterday showed that almost one fifth of children are missing out on school trips and activities because of household costs. Their families cannot afford for them to go on a school trip or take part in an activity. It is heartbreaking for a child if their friends are able to go to an activity or on a school trip and they cannot afford to do so. There is social exclusion and it is difficult for the parent to explain to the child why it is the case. How do parents tell children who only want to be able to participate in the same way as their classmates that their families cannot do that? What does that convey? Parents who are put in that situation love their children just as much as any other parent and want to provide for them just as must as any other parent, but they are not able to do so because of grocery prices and other cost-of-living prices that have gone through the roof. It is a horrible situation for any child, parent or family to be put in. The report published yesterday told us about children not being able to go to friends' birthday parties because there is no money to buy a present to enable the child to attend. That is a horrible situation for any child to be put in, to be excluded in that way. It is because these issues are not being tackled. We need more than the Government simply monitoring it closely. We need it to act.

I cannot for the life of me understand why on earth the Government will not support the Social Democrats' proposal for transparency in supermarket profits. What does it have against that measure? The Government talks about the need for evidence. The Ministers of State, Deputies Buttimer and Dillon, have talked about it and the Taoiseach talked about it yesterday. This is the evidence we need to have full transparency of what is going on with supermarket profits. It is the beginning of the evidence we need. Why on earth is the Government opposed to that? I cannot see any reason not to have full transparency of what is going on with the profits of supermarkets.

The Minister of State told the Dáil earlier that the CCPC is not looking for additional powers. In fact, the CCPC has been calling for more substantial penalties for breaches of consumer protection law. It has been calling for that for some time. It needs changes to the law so that it can impose large fines for serious offences. For example, it could be a percentage of a business's turnover. It has been crying out for that additional power but the Government has, yet again, failed to act on this.

The Minister of State told us that markets operate efficiently and fairly. How does he know that when he does not know what the profits of all the supermarkets and large retailers are? The Government is refusing to take action to ensure it would know about those profits. It is laughable to hear Government representatives say they need evidence and then to oppose these measures.

The Minister of State, Deputy Dillon, has requested that the CCPC reopen its analysis of grocery price inflation. This was done a few years ago and it did not result in any action being taken or in any lowering of grocery prices. It did not work that time and it will not work this time, as the CCPC has not been given any additional powers. This is just a distraction to make it look as though something is happening and something is being done, while prices continue to increase, we have no transparency of profits and individual families and households continue to struggle. Given that that action was taken before and resulted in nothing whatsoever, it is nothing more than a sham.

We need to have full transparency of profits, but we also need the powers the Agri-Food Regulator has been calling for. It has been writing to the Government to say it urgently needs those. We need them to be done now. There should be no more delays. Why has the Government been sitting on those extra powers the Agri-Food Regulator has been saying it urgently needs to do its job? It is fine to talk about the need for transparency and evidence, but if the Government does not give the Agri-Food Regulator the full powers it needs, we do not have full transparency of supermarket profits and it does not give the CCPC the extra powers it has been asking for, how will the Government have the evidence and transparency to be able to do something on grocery prices so people can live dignified lives?

Jennifer Whitmore (Wicklow, Social Democrats)
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Here are the pure, basic facts. Grocery prices have gone up 36% since 2021. That is an additional €3,000 on an average family grocery shop. It is an incredible increase and it is putting huge pressure on families. Some 71% of Irish families say they are very concerned about food prices and we have seen that four in ten parents skip meals so their children can eat. That is a national statistic - four in ten parents. This is a major problem.

I will give another fact as well. It is a clear and unfortunate fact that the Government simply does not care. The facts are there and, despite those facts and the pressures being put on people, it is refusing to do even the basics to try to stop it. The Social Democrats have put forward simple asks today. They will not cost the Government any money. We are just asking it to regulate the big profit makers a little more. That is all. We want transparency in profits. We need to know who is making these profits and on whose backs they are making them.

There are five supermarket giants in Ireland. We are not talking about small corner shops or other small retailers.

We are talking about the large supermarket giants, namely, Dunnes Stores, Tesco, Aldi, Lidl and SuperValu. The grocery sector in Ireland is worth €15 billion. It is an incredibly profitable industry yet this Government refuses even to ask those supermarkets to comply with the basics by publishing their profits. Do not tell me that it is a huge administrative process for them to come up with their profits because I bet they are boasting about those profits to their shareholders every single quarter. They have that information. It is not going to take any more from them to publish it. The Government is simply refusing even to ask that of them. The Minister of State should not tell me that the Government understands, is listening, hears people's concerns and is doing everything possible. It clearly is not. We are not asking the Government to move heaven and earth to do this. We are looking for transparency and information on the supermarkets' profits.

This has been an ongoing issue for many years. All the families watching today know that because they feel those pressures in their pockets. They know what they have to sacrifice from their family budgets to put food on the table for their children. They know the difficulties it is causing for them. In 2023, the Government stated it would deal with the issue. The Minister of State at the time, Deputy Richmond, talked very tough. He brought in representatives of the supermarkets and told them to make changes. He said: "We can get prices down, particularly on the staple necessary goods. The private sector has to step up to the plate on this." That has not happened. The supermarkets are clearly ignoring the Government. We do not need the private sector to voluntarily step up to the plate. It is not going to do that. The supermarkets are making enormous profits. Why would they do anything that the Government is not asking them to do? We need the Government to step up to the plate. We need it to put in place the actions that will ensure the data is available and there is transparency so we know who is making a profit and we know exactly why prices are going up for so many families across the country. It is time for the Government to do that. Rather than coming into the Chamber and talking nicely about understanding and feeling everybody's pain, it should just do something. We are asking for simple actions and want to see movement on it.

Micheál Carrigy (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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In accordance with Standing Order 85(2), the division is postponed until the weekly division time this evening.