THE PRICE OF food has increased by more than double the price of everything else over the past year, according to new figures published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO).

It shows that Consumer Price Index (CPI) listings for an array of goods and services last month had rose by 1.8% on average when compared with June 2024.

This included the price of a pound of butter – up by €1.10 – and Irish cheddar per kilogram – up by 95 cents. Two litres of full fat milk increased by 27 cents.

On the carbohydrates front, there was actually a reduction in the price of a 2.5kg bag of potatoes (-29 cents) while the price of spaghetti per 500g remained unchanged when compared with June 2024.

The most significant increases in the 12 months to June of this year were seen in food and non-alcoholic beverages – seeing spikes of +4.6%. Another area that saw jumps in costs were recreation and culture, or holidays, at +3.5%.

The annual change in food prices costs reflects a rise in prices across a range of products, such as beef, veal and butter.

Clothing and footwear (-2.3%) and transport (-2.0%) were the area of the economy to show the largest declines when compared with June 2024.

Monthly Changes

As of last month, the most significant monthly price changes were in recreation and culture costs (+3.6%) and transport (+1.2%). The increase in recreation and culture was due to higher prices for package holidays, according to the CSO’s figures.

What was kinder to the nation’s pockets were the slight reductions in clothing and footwear (-0.5%) and alcoholic beverages and tobacco (-0.4%). These were the largest declines when compared with May 2025.