Dominic Hannigan (Labour)

With the ongoing fallout from last week's vote, it is clear there is a crisis in the country. We all wish the Taoiseach well in his deliberations abroad in the next few days. Such deliberations are taking place at a time when we need them most because people are very concerned about consumer confidence and about the way the economy is going. This is not only due to potential job losses and job insecurity but there is also a perception that people are being exploited by retailers and suppliers. Articles in today's newspapers indicate that a survey revealed that the price of food in the North is 30% cheaper than that in the South, yet the major retailers are trying to hoodwink us by telling us this is not the case. In today's edition of one of our biggest selling daily newspapers, one supermarket advertises 600 special offers in its store, another advises 1,750 long-term price cuts have been introduced in the past year and another major retailer has two-page advertisements of half-price products. Who are they trying to kid? Everybody knows it is cheaper to go to the North and buy food there. One can even buy newspapers at a lower price there. Something needs to be done about that.

The issue of the diesel prices has been raised previously. We all know that fuel prices have increased and we all recognise the reasons for that. However, it is baffling as to why price of diesel has risen by so much. It is not clear that there is not some unscrupulous behaviour by some major suppliers to try to benefit from the environmental move towards low-emission cars.

One of the reports published in the past 24 hours was by the communications regulator. It once again shows that the Irish mobile phone user pays the highest average revenue per customer in Europe. Something needs to be done about that. I ask the Leader to arrange for the major suppliers to be tackled on this issue and asked to justify their price increases and the reason prices need to be so high. It is not clear that there is not some price matching taking place or, worse still, perhaps even cosy cartels in operation.