The Dáil has heard allegations of alleged “price gouging” by Irish supermarkets, with the Government set to consider increasing fines for supermarkets found in breach of consumer laws.
TDs today discussed a Private Members Motion on Transparency for Supermarket Profits tabled by the Social Democrats. The motion noted that households across the country are struggling to make ends meet, citing a recent PwC’s Voice of the Consumer Survey 2025 which said that more than 70 per cent of people in Ireland are either “extremely” or “very” concerned about the cost of groceries.
The Dáil motion calls for supermarkets with an annual turnover of €10m or more to publish their full audited financial accounts, with potential fines to be imposed on those that do not.
However, the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Niamh Smyth, said that the Coalition Government could not support the proposal for supermarkets to publish profits, as this was not aligned with EU laws. However, she stressed that the Government acknowledges the concerns felt by families around rising costs and accepts “food inflation has had a tangible impact.” However, Minister Smyth said that the Government is examining how it can give the Consumer Protection Commission more powers.
The debate heard that grocery prices are “out of control,” and have increased by nearly 40 per cent in the past four years, while the increase in the Consumer Price Index, over the same period, is 21 per cent. It heard that many families are now spending €3,000 more a year on groceries than they were in 2021. According to the motion, grocery prices have increased at three times the rate of general inflation over the past year alone.
Social Democrats TD for Wicklow, Jennifer Whitmore, said: “The grocery market in Ireland is worth at least €8 billion per year, so why is there so little transparency about profits? Does the Minister of State not find that odd or a little bit worrying? Many of us have long suspected that consumers in Ireland are being gouged by large supermarket chains that use their operations as a cash cow.”
The House heard claims of a lack of transparency around supermarket profits – something described as not acceptable given sustained and soaring prices, with claims made that it is unclear how much profit goes to producers, processors, and retailers in the chain.
The motion put forward on Wednesday states that consumers have a right to know whether surging grocery prices reflect genuine input cost increases or price gouging; and that accounting transparency by large grocery retailers is essential to protect household budgets, restore consumer trust, and ensure fairness in one of the most critical markets for Irish consumers.
Calls were made for the Government to introduce legislation requiring all grocery retailers operating in Ireland with annual turnover above €10 million to publish full audited annual financial accounts, and to ensure that such a requirement applies to all operators, whether Irish-incorporated or foreign branches, ensuring no retailer can claim foreign registration to evade transparency obligations.
Speaking on the motion, Aontú TD Peadar Tóibín pointed out that Ireland is the second-most expensive country in Europe.
He said: “It is quite incredible we have a situation where parents are lying awake at night not knowing how they are going to pay certain bills. I know parents who, as soon as their monthly wages drop in, go into another overdraft to keep them going until the wages next come in.
The Meath West TD said that another problem in the State is that the supermarket sector and the food processing sector are “both oligopolies.”
“They have been allowed develop into oligopolies and they have oligopoly power. Their strong buyer power means can force down the prices coming from farmers, whether they are in arable or meat,” Toibin claimed.
“A small number of these sectors with enormous power are pushing down the prices for the people who are providing the food and, at the other end, they are actually pushing up the prices of products going to the families. They have been allowed to operate in this regard by the Government for many years.”
“I met staff from the food regulator’s office recently. They told me about an investigation they did into the price of eggs. They said they went into a number of different supermarkets, including Aldi, Lidl, Dunnes Stores, and asked for the price of eggs in those locations. They were told, “No, tough, you are not getting the information.” The Government was so brave. It gave the power to the food regulator to ask the companies for information, but those companies can still give the two fingers to the food regulator and say, “Absolutely not.” The Government needs to give the power to compel that information to the food regulator so we can understand exactly what is happening in these companies as to how they are gouging the customer.
“I welcome this motion by the Social Democrats. I am worried that the Government will sit on its hands as usual and families will be assaulted over and over again by these costs.”
Deputy Ken O’Flynn, speaking on behalf of Independent Ireland, said that the price of butter is up 58%, whilst the cost of milk has increased by 25%, and cheese prices have soared by 38%.
“A basic basket now costs over €3,000 more than it did in 2022. That is not just inflation; that is an erosion of dignity, financial stability and a fundamental social contract that says that if you work hard, you should be able to live in security. Yet this Government has chosen not to deliver a cost-of-living package, with no meaningful reliefs and no comprehensive plan,” the Cork Central TD said.
“As regards the response from the Taoiseach yesterday to a question from my colleague to the effect that there is a regulator, I have no faith in this Government, nor do I have faith in the man who was part of a Government that left a financial regulator ruin this country in 2008. That is the faith we have here. While I agree with and am open to free enterprise, there is price gouging going on here and it is unacceptable.
“I commend this motion and thank the Social Democrats for it.”
‘THE PART GOVT HAS PLAYED’
His colleague Deputy Richard O’Donoghue pointed to what he said was the Government’s role in “price gouging”.
“Any price gouging by any major supermarket holder should be transparent. All their profits should be shown. Some people look at the smaller outlets whose turnover is up but whose profits are down. It is some of the major ones we need to look at to see why this is,” O’Donoghue said.
“We also have to look at the part the Government has played in this. It introduced wage increases, which we welcomed, but where does it come back to? To the people who are going in buying the food. It is being added on.
“When you look at the tax regime the Government has on energy costs, there has been a 78% increase in eight months for energy costs to run these supermarkets. The Government is taking 23% VAT on top of that. It is therefore also responsible for the prices going up in our shops.
“When we look at the major supermarkets and they are taking over-the-top profits, yes, 100%, we should pull them in, but we should also look at our smaller stores that are not doing that to understand how we can help them. The Government has at its fingertips the ability to help them. There is no point in giving a wage increase if people do not see it in their pockets and it does not go further. The Government is giving wage increases but is driving the price of everything else up, which means workers do not get a wage increase in the first place, so it all comes back to the taxpayers again.”
‘DIFFERENT PRICES IN DIFFERENT TOWNS’
Independent Danny Healy-Rae also thanked the Social Democrats for bringing up the topic.
“This topic is in everyone’s mouth, that the cost of everything has gone up. There is a major difference between one supermarket and another,” the Kerry TD said.
“There are different prices in different towns. No one can understand who the regulator is, what he is doing or where he is because he is not visible to any of us. The regulator does not seem to be playing an effective role. We see that oil prices fluctuate; they go up and down. We hear the oil price goes down but it takes two or three weeks for fuel prices to go down. If the oil price goes up, fuel prices seem to go up the following morning. They are the things people are talking about. There are monopolies, where certain companies distributing or selling different things seem to have a monopoly and can charge what they like.”
Mr Healy-Rae also said that farmers are not being paid a realistic price.
“For example, it would not make sense for farmers here in Ireland to sell potatoes to the supermarket because the supermarkets are selling them for less, wherever they are getting them, than they could pay the farmers,” he added.
Minister Niamh Smyth said in response to the motion: “We are progressing legislative reforms to enhance the CCPC’s enforcement powers, including the ability to impose stronger sanctions for breaches of consumer protection law.”
“This will ensure that anti-consumer or exploitative practices can be tackled more effectively and with greater deterrent effect.
“It is intended to introduce turnover-based fines for serious breaches of consumer law, ensuring that penalties are proportionate to the scale of the offending business.”
The Labour Party, meanwhile, have accused the Social Democrats of introducing a “copy and paste” version of a Bill that it previously tabled.
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