Rip-off merchants lighten mother-of-three’s purse

DUBLIN housewife Kirsi Hanafin did not need yesterday’s Consumer Price Index for July to confirm the fact that prices for everyday goods and services have risen steadily.

The mother of three children has the evidence of a lighter purse to show that the cost of food and drink and essential services such as education, housing and medical care has soared.

Originally from Finland, the irony is not lost on Kirsi that her birthplace and adopted homeland are now the two most expensive countries in which to live in Europe.

“When I originally moved here in 1996, Ireland was noticeably cheaper. But that has changed to the point where I don’t know anymore what to recommend to Finnish relatives to buy when they visit here. The only good value is with children’s clothing and footwear,” Kirsi said.

While she believes the high cost of living for Finnish consumers is attributable to high rates of VAT and other taxes, she thinks Irish consumers are more likely to be victims of rip-off merchants.

“It’s not applicable to every sector, but there are some things which you would see priced at 20 which you know probably cost 2 to make.” Kirsi says the introduction of the euro at the start of 2002 initially made price comparisons difficult.

“It seemed like toy money. It was hard to be sure if things were more expensive, as there could have been a psychological element that everything was dearer.

“But certainly, the price of some grocery items like chicken have gone up since January.

“I’ve also noticed that prices in the supermarkets tend to go up bit by bit rather than by a single large increase,” she added.

As she is currently pregnant with her fourth child, Kirsi joked that she is not troubled by an almost 4% increase in the cost of alcohol and tobacco since January.

She said she and her husband, Seán, don’t get to eat in restaurants too often, although she is aware that the cost of eating out has become more expensive.

She has also noted significant price rises in the cost of hairdressers, schoolbooks, childcare and electricity and phone bills.

“Thankfully, we don’t have a huge mortgage as we came back to Ireland before house prices went mad. I can understand how some people find it hard to manage,” she said.