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THE SUDDEN DROP in the price of bread by some major supermarket chains has been branded a “PR exercise” by the Labour Party.
Tesco and Aldi dropped the cost of some of their bread goods yesterday by ten cent amid increasing calls for regulation of grocery industry prices, and have been followed today by SuperValu doing similar.
Ged Nash, Labour spokesperson on Finance, Public Expenditure and Reform, criticised the two for taking the decision just hours in advance of an urgent Retail Forum meeting to discuss food prices.
He said accused the Government of ‘flailing’ in its efforts to force supermarkets to cut prices.
Yesterday’s Retail Forum meeting was moved forward by Minister of State with responsibility for retail business Neale Richmond in light of the rising cost of food.
Retail representative bodies, retailers and government departments sit on the forum which meets quarterly to discuss issues impacting the sector.
Nash told RTÉ Radio One’s Morning Ireland it was “billed as a showdown” and accused supermarkets which reduced the price of bread beforehand as taking part in a “PR exercise” to “take some of the heat off the, in my view, profiteering supermarkets in this country engaging in price gouging”.
This also “threw a bone” to the minister ahead of the Retail Forum meeting, Nash said, adding that he doesn’t believe the Forum will lead to any grocery bills coming down in the coming weeks.
“Based on the rather embarrassing outcome of yesterday’s meeting I don’t believe that will be the case. There were no ultimatums given to the supermarket bosses, there were no firm commitments were received by the minister in terms of price reductions.”..
Opposition parties have been pressuring the Government to bring transparency to food prices, starting with today’s meeting.
Tesco Ireland announced that it would be cutting the price of its own-brand bread by 10c. This means a 800g sliced pan will now cost 89c compared to 99c.
Aldi is also reducing the retail prices of its own brand bread products with effect from tomorrow.
This price reduction will see Aldi’s sliced pans loafs reduced by 10 cent each to 89 cent (white bread), 99 cent (brown bread) and €1.09 (white Mega-Toast) respectively.
It has been followed today by a reduction in SuperValu’s own-brand bread.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told the Dáil yesterday that the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) has warned against introducing price controls on food.
He has been adamant that there was a clear message from government to the retail sector that prices must come down as the input costs decrease.
But during Leaders’ Questions Varadkar said that the Government received preliminary advice from the CCPC about how to deal with the high grocery prices.
He told the Dáil that the body “strongly” advised against introducing price controls on food.
The Fine Gael leader said it could have an adverse impact on small retailers and rural retailers, while “other prices that are not controlled [could] then get put up even more”.
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Waste of time making up a food regulator. We have an energy regulator and that makes no difference the companies just do as they please. Weak government is all we have.
@Colm Sheehan: Spot on Colm. More quangos to provide CS failures with lotto size salaries and pensions. A pure and total waste of time.
Most families might go through 1 or 2 sliced pans a week so i’m sure they will all be absolutely delighted with the 20c reduction in their shopping bill. :rolls eyes:
@Carl Campbell: Tesco own brand bread is for dogs.. dreadful stuff..
FG/FF are in bed with the “market”, they will do nothing to protect hapless citizens who they see as mere production units to be exploited at every hands turn.
I use to buy the Tesco soda water for 25 cents only a few months ago , now Tesco charge 75 cents that’s an increase of 200% ,my question is inflation gone up 200% in the last few monts
It’s only a cartel if you meet up to set prices but if you visit each others supermarkets on a regular basis and charge the same as your competitors it’s called ‘Price Matching’
All salt goods or staple foods, milk, bread, butter, eggs, rice, potato’s, flour, meat, baby food etc should have rigorous price scrutiny if not maximum price bands.
These are not luxury’s they are the basic staples that people need to survive and if they need to be subsidised in the short term, then that should happen.
It is a pity that the EU’s Butter mountains, beef mountains, milk lakes and grain mountains have been run down or we could have received discounted foods from these stock piles like we did from the butter mountain in the 70′s.
Its a sad indictment on our economy that Food Banks are a necessity for so many people including the working poor.
Afraid they’ll be asked to open the books
@Metaljester: can’t remember which film that’s in
They should be going after the electricity companies .These institutions are getting with absolute murder with rip off electrucity costs.When we shop we can decide how much we want to spend.When it comes to electricity we are been robbed of our hard earned and they are getting away with it.Why dont they bring these bandits to book???
@Mike Hooper: Bord Gais sent me a gas bill for €202.98 and the gas hasn’t been switched on in my house since March. Electric bills are similar amounts even though I live on my own and switch off everything bar the fridge every morning before I go to work.
I can’t understand why the bills are so high. They installed a smart meter a few months ago but I don’t think it’s very bloody smart.
@David Corrigan: It took me a bit of time but I created a spreadsheet to recalculate my bills and take more regular meter readings. It was interesting to say the least when I looked at the last 18 months side by side and then compared to competitors rates. The big standout was the varying standing charges. So whilst you think you are getting a better deal on rates it is being wiped by standing charges. Since the same network is being used by all providers this needs to be set by ESB networks so consumers can just compare rates.
@Sal Paradise: Thanks Sal. I will start logging the data also and see what’s going on. It’s crazy to be getting bills that high and not even using the resource.
Electric is the same. I live alone and only use the washing machine once per week. I don’t have an electric shower either. Just a standard pressure shower. Everything bar the fridge is turned off when I leave the house in the morning. Electric bills were €200+ for the last 3 bills.
At this stage I’m thinking, what’s the point t.
Own brand bread is disgusting
@Richard Seager: Not all of it. And sometimes there’s no other affordable option.
I eat Lidl’s own brand Spelt bread. Last I checked it was 99c for a small loaf. Compared to the Spelt bread in Supervalu – €3.50 at it’s cheapest, or up to €5 depending on the mood of the owner.
It’s not bad. I do miss a nice slice of Brennan’s white. But I’ve few other options, really.
It clearly is a PR stunt. Dropping one item out of thousands by 10c and then expecting everyone to jump for joy. Disgusting contempt shown for their customers and what will our “Government” do it about it? Nothing, that’s what because that’s all they ever do to protect the people that voted them in and pay their wages.
Didn’t they just reduce the price of their own brand goods?
@james kelly: but they regain that by raising prices elsewhere
If this was France the public protests would burn down the supermarkets / in Ireland they get asked to attend a discussion and thanked for participating / sure come back end of June and let’s have another chat lads / any chance you being along a few slides showing the profitability in the Irish market and some price comparisons with other EU countries / if you don’t mind we would like to share the reality with the people / who are all experiencing 30/40 % increases at the tills this past 12 months / maybe if they continue to just rip off the public the Irish public will meaningfully protest and demand govt action and more transparency / remember the single market benefits of being in EU are not suppose to lead to excessive local profiteering by eu giants / price controls might be needed
Yup. After exploring people, they treat them as fools.
All groceries should be coming down not only bread government and regulator want to get their act together and sort it
have your say