SURVEY: A Consumers' Association of Ireland survey has found anecdotal evidence of price increases being slipped through along with the introduction of euro notes and coins. The survey lists 47 examples of what it considers prices being put up excessively when the new currency came into use.
They range from a 13 cent increase in the price of a pint of Guinness in a Dublin pub to a Wexford-based GP who increased his fee from £50 to the equivalent of £70 in euro. The examples were compiled by the association's members and from anonymous calls from the public, according to Mr Michael Kilcoyne, the chairman of the association.
The group also published a survey of supermarket prices yesterday. It compared the price of various items in January 2001 with the price of the same items in January of this year, after the euro coins and notes came into use.
The price of the basket of 31 goods rose by 5 per cent, just slightly ahead of the official inflation figure for 2001, which was also released yesterday by the Central Statistics Office. The price of 27 of the items rose, while four fell in price.
The increases ranged from 0.21 per cent for a kilo of sugar to 20.76 per cent for fresh eggs. Mr Kilcoyne acknowledged that the supermarket survey did not indicate any significant profiteering from the introduction of the euro by supermarkets.
The other part of the survey, the anecdotal increases, did show that prices had been put up by more than inflation in December and January, he said. Examples in the survey included the price of a game of pool in the average pub used to cost 50p and one bar in Athlone has put it up to €1, the equivalent of 79p. Similar increases were found in the prices of magazines, videos, discos and the price of food and drink.
There were several examples of people buying clothes priced in pounds which were rung up on the till in euros at a higher price.
The association said yesterday that it was difficult to strip out the effect of price increases that could be normally expected on January 1st. "The consumer is the market and must now decide upon what they, the market, will bear," said the association last night.
