A LABOUR PARTY Bill on “excessive” pricing which would compel supermarkets to publish their Irish profits will go to the first stage of the Dáil today.
Labour is also calling on the government to “act now on potential price gouging by giant retailers”.
The party’s spokesperson on finance Ged Nash said it’s “time for the government to stand up for consumers and to bring more transparency to the supermarket sector”.
Speaking to reporters today, Nash said his party has been “leading the way in campaigning against high grocery prices”.
“We know that inflation and grocery prices is coming in at 10% this year,” said Nash. “That’s from a record high earlier in the year of about 16% to 17%.”
Nash added that those most “affected by high levels of inflation and high grocery prices are those who are on low and modest incomes”.
Labour’s finance spokesperson said the “Excessive Pricing Bill” would give the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) the “power to tackle any potential price gouging behaviour”.
“It would mean that the watchdog would have access to information on profits and pricing structure and enable the body to take real enforcement action on behalf of consumers where unfair prices are being charged and where the abuse of a dominant position is evident.”
Nash remarked that there is a “huge concentration of large supermarket operations in this country but very limited competition”.
Earlier this year, Labour called on the CCPC to investigate “whether or not they thought price gouging was a feature of the supermarket system in this country”.
“Remarkably, they concluded that it’s not the case,” said Nash.
“We can’t say that definitively because supermarkets in this country – most of them – are not compelled because of their company structures to actually publish their Irish earnings on their Irish profits.”
Explaining more about Labour’s Bill, Nash told reporters: “The legislation that we published a number of months ago and that I’m introducing at first stage today will compel those supermarkets to provide profit information to the CCPC and allow the CCPC to do frequent deep dives into the state of the grocery sector in this country.
“We simply cannot conclude that price gouging is not a feature of the supermarket system if it is the case that companies themselves do not publicly publish their profits.
“We need to address that to introduce greater transparency into the supermarket sector in this country.”
Nash added that it is “only very infrequently that the CCPC undertakes these kinds of examinations” and that the legislation will “require them to do that on a more frequent basis”.
He said this is important given the “significance of the grocery market in Ireland and the proportion of our incomes that we spend on what are relatively high grocery prices” when compared to other countries.
Nash also states that the government “has a responsibility to protect consumers, and this Bill is a common-sense way to do that”.
“The cost-of-living crisis is hitting families hard,” said Nash.
“People are struggling to make ends meet, and they are being forced to choose between heating their homes and putting food on the table.
“The Government must act now to stop price gouging and to help people with the cost of living.
“The Government must stop dragging its feet on this issue. It is time to put consumers first and to give the Competition and Consumer Protection agency the teeth it needs to stand up for people.”
-With additional reporting from Jane Matthews
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