Jim Power: I want the Government to focus on energy prices, less on grocery outlets

The latest consumer price inflation data, this week, showed that food prices increased by 0.6% in April and by 13.1% over the past year.

The past week in Ireland was dominated by two events: The pressure from the Government on retailers to cut grocery prices and the announcement of the creation of a sovereign wealth fund to deal with projected budget surpluses.

It is extraordinary to see government pressurise private retailers to cut consumer prices. It is an intervention that smacks of an unpopular government that will try anything to curry favour with the voting public. It is blatant political populism, but given that the rest of the Dáil is at it, why shouldn’t everyone join in? The Labour Party is calling for a windfall tax on retailers. I guess the government response to the pandemic has changed the ground rules on involvement in our lives.