Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
ANNUAL INFLATION RATES in Ireland are below 2% for the first time in over three years.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is Ireland’s official measure of inflation.
Around 50,000 prices are collected for the CPI from a basket of goods containing 612 items which aims to reflect what average households arespending their money on.
Figures released today by the Central Statistics Office(CSO) show that the CPI rose by 1.7% between August 2023 and August 2024.
This is down from an annual increase of 2.2% in the 12 months to July 2024 and the first time since June 2021 that the CPI increase has been below 2%.
Excluding energy and unprocessed food, the CPI went up by 2.9% in the 12 months to August 2024.
The 612 items in the CPI can be broken down into 12 divisions.
The largest increases in these divisions in the year to August were seen in Restaurants & Hotels, where prices rose by 4.5%.
The CSO said this increase is largely down to higher prices for alcohol and food.
This is followed by Miscellaneous Goods & Services, such as car insurance and hairdressing which rose by 4.1%.
On the other end of the scale, the divisions with the largest declines in were clothing and footwear, down 6.2%, and housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels, which decreased by 1.9%.
The CSO said clothing and footwear prices were down due to lower prices for garments, but noted that decreases across the housing costs division were partially offset by an increase in the cost of mortgage interest repayments and rents.
The CSO also tracks monthly increases, and in the month from July to August, consumer prices rose by 0.1%, compared to a 0.7% rise for the same period in 2023.
In August 2024, the most significant monthly price changes were increases in Clothing and Footwear, up 2.8%, and Restaurants & Hotels, up 0.5%.
Recreation & Culture, down 1.4%, and Transport, down 0.8%, were the only divisions to show a decline when compared with July 2024.
Recreation & Culture decreased primarily due to a fall in the cost of package holidays, while transport cost fell mainly due to lower prices for airfares.
Elsewhere, a spokesperson for Peopl Insurance remarked that “while the news that inflation has fallen below 2% will be a relief to consumers, the reality is that prices are still increasing – and from a much higher base”.
Paul Walsh added that “consumers are still feeling the impact of the record-high inflation of recent years and this will continue for some time”.
He also noted that heading into Autumn, people will start to use heating again and families “will start to feel the pinch of hearting and electricity bill soon”.
Walsh also pointed to the carbon tax increase that will take effect from 9 October, which will add 2.1 cent per litre of petrol and 2.5 cent per litre of diesel, as another thing that “will hit many consumers in the pockets”.
He said it’s “crucial” that cost-of-living measures are “very much at the heart of the Government’s upcoming Budget and that Ireland’s runaway prices are tackled”.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
The richest country in Europe again depending on charity and volunteers to solve a crisis the people who govern us will ramble back mid January with no vision and same mantra thank god for these wonderful volunteers who have worked free over the Christmas with donations from ordinary decent people to keep these vital services going and doing the work of politians
@Stephen Byrne: any country in Europe who don’t have charities? Charities that exponentially increase their activity during Christmas?
@Stephen Byrne: if it was easy for politicians to spend taxpayers money on every good cause I gather they would
@Stephen Byrne:
More then 24 differant “homeless” charity’s in Dublin alone. Employing over 700 people offering below that number in beds.
Time to clean up the charitie industry.
Then the money donated wll go to the ones who need it.
@Darius Guppy: An excellent example is GoBanyo in Germany, founded by a formerly homeless man, he brought the Duschbus to the streets.
Kitted out with three private bathrooms, one wheelchair accessible, people can look after their personal hygiene.
@Temp Stuff: Instead the fools squander it on bike sheds, bus stops fax machines, travel etc. Don’t mention the hospital. If there was any accountability in this kip, heads would roll and dubious reputations laid to rest.
Jaysus, Glen Hansard would show up at the opening of a phone box
@Niall Boyle: Jaysus, this same comment shows up every year on this same article.
Nearly 15000 people homeless in Ireland now, thanks people for voting Ff and FG back in government, well done.
@Bills n Stuff: And horribly high numbers in the six counties, too.
@Bills n Stuff: you’re welcome
@Bills n Stuff: 15,000 living in FREE ACCOMODATION.
@Bills n Stuff:
Less then a thousand people in the country sleep on the streets. And there is a bed in a hostal for all of them.
Father Mc Ferry? Has stated on radio that when they send out a van to collect someone, by the time they get there someone will have given the person a tent, a sleeping bag, and sandwiches and they are no longer interested in heading back to the hostal.
@Athena: How much did they squander on a Children’s hospital? Nothing.
Little wonder they don’t want anything to do with this 26 pantomime.
Eh you forgot to mention the little known Dermot Kennedy who also showed up to play some tunes!
Government spending money on everything but the homeless and especially on themselves with exorbitant pensions salaries and expenses
@Pauline Cahill:
This is a great chance for the lefty left and Typhoid Mary to pull a good news story by living on the average industrial wage and donating the differance to a homeless charity.
Bunch of chancers will go home to their big homes in the nicer parts of Dublin and preach to the rest of us for the rest of the year.
What happened to the surplus home sweet home money donated.
We were promised the accounts would be made public a number of years ago.
Glen Hansard and age gaps with the women he’s with are very suspect, especially your own from Once. Would rather not have him celebrated still
@Lewis Armstrong: try that again.
@Philip Kennedy: he was being polite. Theres a persistent rumor that Hansard is a creep and dated underage girls in his 30s, allegedly..
Temp stuff a home is an necessity and if previous governments were doing their job 15000 people wouldn’t be homeless of which over 4000 are children how are your kids tonight volunteers work aloside people earning big money
@Stephen Byrne:
Yunkies, drunks and wife beaters are not intitled to taxpayers money. That’s the job of charities.
@H Woo: What a pathetic comment.
The Cranberries dedicated their song Linger to Glen Hansard. He’s akin to that silent flatulence after a spud dinner that just won’t go away.
have your say