Reductions in the price of milk and butter by major supermarkets in Ireland are “tokenistic,” according to the Social Democrats.
The Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise Neale Richmond is scheduled to meet with the Retail Forum tomorrow (Wednesday, May 10) to discuss food costs and grocery inflation.
Members of the forum include Tesco Ireland and the Musgraves Group which owns the SuperValu and Centra brands.
Social Democrats leader Holly Cairns has said tomorrow’s meeting of the Retail Forum “needs to be much more than just a listening exercise”.
“The government must forcefully insist on full scrutiny of the obscene profits being made by retailers at the expense of their customers.
“Recent reductions in the price of milk and butter are tokenistic and will do little to cut householders’ soaring grocery bills, which have increased by €1,200 in the last year alone,” Deputy Cairns said.
According to latest figures from data company Kantar, grocery price inflation in Ireland was running at 16.6% in the 12 weeks to April 16.
Its research also shows that Dunnes had 23.2% of the grocery market over the 12 weeks to April 16, while Tesco had 22.4% of the market and SuperValu had 20.7%.
Deputy Cairns believes the government “must force the major supermarket chains to come clean about the profits they are making off the backs of struggling consumers”.
“The major supermarkets insist they are not profiteering, yet there is no clarity about the profits of their Irish operations.
“The government must insist on full transparency on the levels of profit they are generating in Ireland and make clear what action they will take to curb any greed exposed,” she said.
Meanwhile, Sinn Féin will bring a motion on Food Costs and Rising Grocery Bills for debate to the Dáil today (Tuesday, May 9).
The party’s spokesperson on enterprise, trade and employment, Louise O’Reilly, said it was calling on the government “to do all in its power to ensure savings made by supermarkets and large food retailers in respect to falling input costs are passed on to consumers through lower grocery prices”.
“In addition, we are calling on government to amend the Agricultural and Food Supply Chain Bill 2022 to give the proposed Agri-Food Regulator powers to investigate anti-competitive practices in the agri-food supply chain,” Deputy O’Reilly added.