Independent TD for Offaly Carol Nolan has said the latest data on food prices published by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) is a “frightening insight into the crippling financial burden that hundreds of thousands of families are now facing on a daily basis.”
The CSO released figures from from Eurostat yesterday that put food price inflation at three times the headline rate of rises in prices, with food prices up 5% – a 20 month high.
Economist Oliver Browne previously calculated that the cost of food shopping has increased by 36% in the past four years.
Commenting on the National Average Prices data last month, the CSO said that in the 12 months to July 2025 Food & Non-Alcoholic Beverages had risen 4.7% – adding that within that overall picture a pound of butter has increased by €1.08), while cheddar cheese was up 70c per kg.
The overall annual inflation rate was 1.8% in August, up from 1.6% in July.
Deputy Nolan said that: “it is now absolutely clear that the price of food is simply becoming unsustainable for far too many families”.
“This has gone beyond cutting back on certain items; it is now a full-blown crisis that government must respond too with unrelenting determination, especially around the energy cost side of things which we know is what is driving a lot of these increases.”
“We also must avoid scapegoating farmers and food producers who for too long have been on the receiving end of price manipulation and cartel like monopoly behaviour from the factories.”
“These levels of increase cannot go on. The cost of food on the shelves is just ridiculous. Something has to give before families and children and those on fixed low incomes such as pensioners or carers are driven to new depths of food poverty and food insecurity,” concluded Deputy Nolan.