MIXING UP THE owners of Supervalu during a Dáil debate last week has been put down to “human error” by Sinn Féin. 

During a debate on the cost-of-living and rising food prices, Sinn Féin’s finance spokesman Pearse Doherty and a number of other Sinn Féin TDs stated that United Natural Foods Inc rather than the Irish Musgrave Group own the supermarket chain Supervalu. 

Doherty told the Dáil that “United Natural Foods Inc., the owners of SuperValu, saw its stock price rise by 60 per cent in the last year”.

Sinn Féin’s Máire Devine and Paul Donnelly also noted that “SuperValu’s stock by nearly 61 per cent” and had a “turnover exceeding €5 billion for the first time, with profits of €104 million”. 

So, what happened?  

Sinn Féin has put it down to “human error” due to a search by Sinn Féin staff into Google Finance turning up a ‘Supervalu’ company based in the US being owned by United Natural Foods Inc.

Google Finance is a search tool that provides real-time stock market prices. 

However, the Musgrave Group, which owns Supervalu in Ireland, is not a publicly listed company and is in fact a family-owned business. It therefore would not feature on a Google Finance search. 

It is understood that when Supervalu was put into the search it stated that United Natural Foods Inc had bought Supervalu, however, beneath the headline it clarified that the ‘Supervalu’ in question is an American company, not an Irish company. 

“We should have caught it ourselves,” said a source in Sinn Féin.

However they argued that the point being made in the Dáil during the debate still stands as supermarkets are seeing their profits increasing since the pandemic. 

According to Musgrave’s annual report for 2023, published last year, the group reached €5 billion in turnover for the first time. Meanwhile profit after tax for the year reached €103.9 million.

Musgrave’s report stated that of the €6.5 billion that came in with retail sales, €3.5 billion came from SuperValu stores.

The cost-of-living crisis and rising costs featured during today’s Leaders’ Questions debate today, where Taoiseach Micheál Martin acknowledged that prices remain “elevated”. 

Musgrave’s has been contacted for comment by The Journal.