Consumer prices surge at fastest pace for two years — as utility and hairdressing charges jump     

Hairdressing prices jumped 8.5% while electricty prices are up 9.4%

Consumer prices surged by an annual rate of 1.7% on the back of rising oil prices, as well as price hikes across many services and hospitality industries as they came out from lockdown.  Picture: Larry Cummins

Irish consumer prices surged by an annual 1.7% — the fastest pace for over two years — as electricity and heating and other utility bills surged on the back of global oil price hikes, while the costs of hairdressing and restaurants and hotels and other personal services climbed on their reopening, CSO figures show. 

There were "notable" price rises across a range of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels last month from a year earlier, while a range of other goods that make up Ireland's basket of goods and services, including clothing, food, and the costs of communications, fell in May. The hike in electricity and gas bills will come as no surprise to households after retail utility suppliers released a series of price increases in recent weeks, citing the surge in the price of global oil. Huge stimulus of the economies in the US and Europe has helped the world economy to emerge from the Covid economic recession at a faster than expected pace but has driven up key oil prices, in particular.