Rip-Off Republic pulls record viewers

CONSUMER watchdog show Rip-Off Republic has given RTÉ its highest viewership figures this year for a factual programme after 778,000 people tuned in on Monday night.

And the revelations of massive consumer rip-offs exposed by presenter Eddie Hobbs will stand the scrutiny of any official investigation, the Consumers’ Association of Ireland (CAI) has insisted.

Consumer champion Hobbs has based all his revelations in Rip-Off Republic on official reports conducted by State agencies such as Forfás, the Revenue Commissioners and the Competition Authority, CAI chairman Michael Kilcoyne said.

Over 53% of the all TV viewers on Monday night tuned into the third Rip-Off Republic programme. It was the fourth most watched RTÉ programme so far this year, behind the Eurostar live final, the Rose of Tralee final and the Nine O’Clock news.

However, Oireachtas Enterprise Committee chairman Donie Cassidy will today challenge Mr Hobbs’s figures on the Groceries Order which bans below-cost selling.

In his second Rip Off Republic programme, Mr Hobbs said this order was designed solely to boost the profits of retailers at the expense of consumers.

Deputy Cassidy will give the Oireachtas committee figures which he says will dispute some of the information presented as fact on the TV show. These have been provided by O’Reilly Consultants who have been advising the Oireachtas committee on the Groceries Order. They examined statistics about the order used in the programme and found them to differ from figures they produced themselves.

But Mr Kilcoyne said he was confident Mr Hobbs’s figures would stand up to any scrutiny and he accused Deputy Cassidy of being more concerned about protecting big business.

“We did not see Deputy Cassidy calling a meeting of the Oireachtas Enterprise Committee when €40 was slapped on the price of fridges by the electrical industry or when the Government sanctioned a 12.5% increase in VHI premiums.”

Deputy Cassidy could not be reached for comment last night.