Ireland has the highest prices in the EU — and it's even worse than we think
A cost-of-living protest march, part of a national series of protests, at St Patrick's Street, Cork City on Saturday, June 18, 2022. Picture: Larry Cummins
The latest EU figures are in, and it's official — Ireland is the most expensive country in Europe, along with Denmark.
At a time when inflation is at its highest level in 38 years, Eurostat — the statistical office of the European Union — told us the prices of goods and services in Ireland are 40% above the EU average.
The price of alcoholic drinks and tobacco in Ireland is the most expensive in Europe, more than double the average. The cost of housing is 88% higher than the EU average.
Although it is mostly bad news in this Eurostat survey — Ireland having the second most expensive public transport in Europe and hotel and restaurant prices 29.5% above the European average to name some more — there is yet another sting in the tail.
These figures are for 2021. We’re almost halfway through 2022, and it’s only gotten worse.
Petrol and diesel are well over €2 now, around 30c dearer per litre than at the start of the year, when they were already at record levels.
Compared to a year ago, according to CSO stats, the average price of a loaf of bread is 15c dearer. The average 2lt container of milk has increased by the same amount. A 500g bag of spaghetti is 20c more expensive.
A medium-sized whole chicken is 40 cents up.
Eggs are up. Flour is up. The list goes on — and goes on considerably.
It all adds up to the money in our pockets not going nearly as far as it did 18 months ago, 12 months ago, and even six months ago.
When we’re talking about items going up by cents, it may not sound a lot. But when you’re saying the shop for basic necessities has gone up 10%, that’s a huge chunk of a household’s spending that must now go on these things.
It's also on top of huge increases in energy bills and fuel prices.
The €200 credit that all account holders were due to receive in the last couple of months has been among some measures aimed at cushioning the blow, but more pain is on the horizon, with price rises set to continue into autumn and winter.
This week, the monthly KBC sentiment survey of 1,000 adults was published.
It found that only one in 20 consumers say they don’t need to make adjustments to their spending in the face of cost of living pressures.
On the other end of the spectrum, just under one in 10 say they cannot make any more adjustments.
Furthermore, just under six in 10 (59%) are cutting back on non-essentials while 37% of people are cutting back on essentials.
KBC chief economist Austin Hughes said: “The results also give a sense of the relative intensity of the inflation shock to various demographics as the scale of cost-of-living pressures have meant many who were managing to get by or even reasonably comfortable have seen their financial circumstances change markedly.”
When it came to cutting back on essentials, Mr Hughes said that this likely referred to reductions in travel, turning down or off domestic heating and possibly significant variations in cutbacks to grocery spending.
This pressure is being felt acutely in so many areas.
Mike Allen, director of advocacy for Focus Ireland, said his organisation is increasingly seeing people come forward who are afraid of losing their place to live as they’re having to choose heating their home and buying food over paying the rent.
He said that one measure that would provide immediate relief to families would be to expand HAP limits, which haven’t been changed since 2016. In that period, families in receipt of the rent support could’ve seen their rent rise over 20% without any change to that support.
These impacts are being seen across a number of services providing supports to families.
Feed Cork is a food bank based in the city which provides a three-day supply of food to families and individuals to help them get by. They’ve seen the number of people accessing their service increase this year and yesterday outlined testimonials from people who had reached out to them for help.
A single mother whose partner passed away a number of years ago described how she felt embarrassed at the idea of going to a good bank. But, she said, it has made a massive difference to her life.
“Saving me in my food bill has enabled me to pay for my other bills without having to worry about where I will get the money from,” she said.
Mr Allen added that there are measures that could be brought in pre-Budget that would have a positive effect, such as increasing HAP limits, and said that any measures brought will be at their most effective when targeted at those who need them most.
This is especially the case for families at risk of homelessness due to the rising cost of living and landlords selling up.
“[The Government] does need to move much more urgently,” he said.
“It’s very disappointing for all involved in homelessness services to see the numbers go up so much.
"The plans are there, the commitments are there. But for someone who’s losing their home this week, or has been living in emergency accommodation for two years, that’s no help to them right now.”
