The Government is willing to consider an emergency fund to prevent creches from closing because of a withdrawal of insurance cover.

Consumer and financial experts have called on regulators to probe the grip held by AIB and Bank of Ireland on the banking market. The calls come after ECB head Mario Draghi told the Oireachtas Finance Committee on Thursday that a “quasi-monopoly” was driving up the costs of credit for homes and business borrowers.

The Government and Central Bank regulators have been accused of letting down customers after it emerged Irish first-time buyers will pay up to €61,641 more in interest costs over the lifetime of their mortgages than anywhere else in Europe.

Consumer and financial experts say regulators should urge RaboDirect to consider extending its notice period beyond May because of the unprecedented effects its decision to shut its €3bn savings operation will have on its 90,000 customers.

Ireland’s leading consumer advocate has called on Sky to cut the costs of premiership soccer subscriptions after it emerged it will pay 16% less per game in the latest auction of English Premier League rights, write Eamon Quinn, Joe Mayes and David Hellier.

Some of Michael O’Leary’s old swagger is back, writes Eamon Quinn.

Thousands of products on supermarket shelves are coming in smaller packages, despite prices remaining the same, according to a new report.

Thousands of products on supermarket shelves are coming in smaller packages, despite prices remaining the same, according to a new report.

Households are borrowing €50m a month to buy big-ticket consumer items like cars, home improvements and holidays.

One of the country’s leading consumer advocates has called for Irish MEPs to mount a campaign in Brussels to highlight the comparatively high-interest rates banks are charging Irish companies and households.

Irish insurer 123.ie is refunding thousands of customers after mistakenly overcharging them for motor insurance over two years.

A leading consumer watchdog has slammed plans by insurance companies to impose more hikes to premiums this year, claiming the industry and regulators are effectively “softening up” the public to meekly accept increases at a time when most other costs are tumbling across the economy.

Business and consumer groups have called on the Government to launch a probe into the grip that Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland have over Irish banking and to consider the possibility of breaking up AIB to boost competition.

It looks like the ‘will they won’t they’ saga on Aer Lingus is coming to an end, writes Paul Mills.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has moved to calm concerns about the potential sale of Aer Lingus and insisted any deal will be done in the “best interests of the whole country”.

The most powerful independent consumer voice in the country has voiced an 11th-hour warning about the future of Aer Lingus, as the Government late last night endorsed the takeover offer by Willie Walsh’s IAG Group.

Food safety chiefs are to crack down on misleading food labels like ‘artisan’, ‘farmhouse’, ‘traditional’, and ‘natural’.

Thousands of customers are to be affected by a price hike from mobile phone operator Three.

Eurospar has slashed fruit and vegetable prices to as little as 9c — just weeks after other major retailers agreed not to sell produce below cost.

Summer camps can be a productive and fun way to help fill the long school holidays. Clodagh O’Donoghue of Consumer Choice looks at the options, costs, and what you need to consider.

Laws must be introduced to prevent landlords and developers from renting "fitted out" rooms to rogue dentists, some of whom are performing flawed procedures before moving on to avoid facing the consequences.

The price of an average grocery basket of branded goods continues to creep up, despite the recession hitting cash-strapped consumers.

Sharon Ní Chonchúir talks to the experts about managing the purse strings, balancing the bills and extricating ourselves from debt where possible.

The current supermarket price war spells good news for hard-pressed consumers in the short term, but is it sustainable and will the long-term consequences for Irish suppliers and producers prove detrimental?

Four separate investigations are under way after it emerged the number of customers whose personal and credit card details have been stolen from a web-based company has grown to almost 80,000, with thousands more potentially affected.

There appears to be a lack of joined-up thinking by the Government — or at least an element of contradiction — when it comes to taxing the hospitality sector.

The Irish Medicines Board has revealed that more than three quarters of a million dosages of fake or illegal medicines were confiscated last year by customs’ officers after they were purchased online or via mail order.

Irish tourists are being duped by fake websites into paying for free European health insurance cards — but gardaí are powerless to do anything about it.

Thousands of private health insurance holders are set to suffer a second double-digit price hike this year — marking the start of a threatened 40% new cost surge across the sector.

Supermarkets must cut costs if they want to prevent risking a customer boycott over soaring recession-era price hikes.

The Government is to crack down on contentious handling charges imposed when consumers purchase airline and concert tickets.

Health insurer VHI is set to impose its sixth recession-era price hike within weeks — meaning some premium costs have doubled since the economic crash began.

Hundreds of holidaymakers could be out of pocket on prepaid trips after booking agent Selfcatering.ie went out of business.

Boots has sparked a prescription price war with smaller pharmacies by slashing the cost of some of the most popular medicines by as much as 31%.

The era of free banking is dead — the head of the Consumers’ Association of Ireland, Dermott Jewell, has said after AIB announced a raft of new charges.

Health Minister James Reilly will come under increasing pressure to introduce proposals for universal health insurance as more people are priced out of the private health insurance market, a leading patient advocate has warned.