Irish Examiner view: Consumers badly need a champion

For fuel the only way is up with a litre of petrol rising by 5c, and diesel by 4c, as the Government starts to fully restore excise duty which was suspended two years ago to offset the rising cost of living following the invasion of Ukraine. Picture: Joe Giddens/PA

If you study the regular inflation figures issued by the ECB, you might be forgiven for believing that the economy is on an improving trajectory. Inflation rates have fallen below the ECB target of 2%, although the average for the eurozone is 2.4%. Financiers meeting in Frankfurt on Thursday will mull over the prospect for a cut in interest rates by the summer which would bring some assistance to mortgage holders.

However, the problem is that we ordinary citizens do not inhabit the world of macro-economics and money supply. We gain our sense of wellbeing from what we pay in shops, pubs, and restaurants, and what we are charged for services and supply. Based on these metrics, and supported by even a cursory glance through some of the many anxieties reported every week in the Irish Examiner, there is a considerable gap between experiences and priorities of the theoreticians and what the rest of us know as real life.

Some increases levied are so swingeing that they seem to be generated from a parallel universe where pockets are eternally deep and magic money trees cover the land like an everlasting rainforest. In some cases, eye-watering burdens are falling on a relatively limited number of people, such as those living on houseboats on rivers and waterways.

The governing body, Waterways Ireland, has ambitions to introduce new permit fees for moorings, over which it has a monopoly, and has been campaigning for them since last summer. On Saturday, we described how one 78-year-old who has lived on his barge for 24 years faces an increase in annual charges from €280 to €2,000.

The review takes in a swathe of outdated bylaws and seeks to bring safety, navigation and pollution rules up to date. However commendable that is, it is the fee increases, which have to be signed off by Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien, which catch the eye. And it is because it is part of a general business mindset which has become prominent since covid that consumers and customers should suck up whatever price hikes are thrown at them.

While the waterways community is small, and will be hard-pressed to respond to rises of 600%, there are many other groups who are simultaneously wondering how the prices they now face for a diverse range of services are being calculated. This week we told how people over 65 are paying 43% more for private health insurance than they were a year ago, with the average premium being pushed above €2,100. Other adults have experienced increases in the region of 17%.

For fuel, also, the only way is up with a litre of petrol rising by 5c, and diesel by 4c, as the Government starts to fully restore excise duty which was suspended two years ago to offset the rising cost of living following the invasion of Ukraine. There will be further rises in August and October including the impact of additional carbon tax. If raising such charges appears contradictory among efforts to control inflation, then the mood music emanating from the important leisure and tourism industries ranges from cautious to discouraging.

Shortage of bed space is likely to place upward pressure on prices while hotels and restaurants continue to fret over the impact of government-mandated increases to the minimum wage. While the lucrative US market is likely to remain solid, price and availability does impact Ireland’s appeal for European visitors. Ireland needs more tangible price protection for consumers across the board. They are paying the pipers. It would be helpful if they could call the tune on occasions.

Musical rulers of Europe

It’s been written that only two things will survive a nuclear apocalypse — cockroaches and our undying love for Abba.

While we will never want to put that assertion to the test it is worth recalling that our relationship with the Swedish pop supergroup was first forged 50 years ago this weekend when, after two failed attempts to qualify, they won the Eurovision song contest in Brighton with ‘Waterloo’, its most popular hit.

Since then, the palindromic Abba — the title is formed from the first names of the four founders, Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad — are estimated to have sold over 300m records. There are 50 hit singles, eight chart-busting albums, two successful films, a stage show and a daily digital performance with four avatars which has been running for two years in London.

The architects of Euro pop were scheduled to appear in Luxembourg, the 1973 winners, but the host country pulled out, saying the show was too expensive. The BBC stepped in, and the programme was presented by Katie Boyle. Seventeen countries were scheduled to participate, although France withdrew following the death in office of its president, George Pompidou. By last year, the number of countries competing had swollen to 37.

Abba were overwhelming winners with 24 points.

Ireland’s entry ‘Cross Your Heart’ sung by Tina Reynolds came seventh. The foursome from Stockholm became the most popular act ever to perform at Eurovision and this year’s competition, in Sweden, will pay tribute to them.

To borrow a lyric from one of their great hits, “there was something in the air that night”. Whatever it was helped to create what has been, for many, the soundtrack of our lives.

The golden goose 

One sector which appears inviolate to anxieties about customer loyalty is international tourism. It will be a cold day in hell before that appetite diminishes. Ryanair showed an 8% year-on-year rise in its passenger numbers for March (12.6m to 13.6m) and said it had carried 183.7m people in the year.

Those figures came in the same week that the global travel industry forecast that it would turn over €10.2tn this year, beating its prior record of 2019.

The 2024 global Economic Impact Research report, released by the World Travel and Tourism Council, said that, in another decade, tourism will become a €14.72tn industry comprising 11.4% of global gross domestic product.

Every 12 jobs in 100 will depend upon it.

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