Retail competition will help spur recovery, says EU

THERE must be more competition between retailers to ensure the country’s economy recovers as speedily as possible, the EU has warned.

This comes hot on the heels of two reports from the National Consumer Agency (NCA) showing that food is 30% more expensive and non-food items are 51% dearer than in Britain.

The price differences made doing business in Ireland 5%-6% more expensive, according to Forfas, and this had not changed despite the value of the euro against sterling climbing by one-third over the last 18 months.