Joe O'Toole (Independent)

This has been the most difficult year imaginable for the economy. As Senator Fitzgerald said, families have never found it more difficult to survive and to fight their way through the recession. I am quite appalled by the EUROSTAT food price survey which was released yesterday. It found that at a time when Irish farmers are getting 20 cent a litre for their milk, the lowest price for 40 years, Irish consumers, people buying food and dairy products, eggs, cheese and milk in supermarkets, were being charged the second highest prices in Europe. This is an inconsistency which is utterly unacceptable. For all those people who are quick enough to talk about the private and public sectors and inefficiencies in one or the other, this is a clear sign that market forces do not work on behalf of the consumer in all cases.