Dublin-country price difference widens

The gap between prices in Dublin and the rest of the country is growing, according to new figures.

Dublin is significantly more expensive than the rest of the country for nearly two-thirds of all goods and services. Prices in the capital are now an average of 4.4 per cent more expensive than they are in the rest of the country. Only six months ago the gap was 3.5 per cent.

The difference is most pronounced when it comes to alcohol, going to the cinema and getting a haircut, the Central Statistics Office (CSO) has said.

The price of a pint of stout, an old perennial when it comes to the cost of living, has now breached the psychological €4 barrier in Dublin. It is €3.70 in the rest of the country, a difference of 8.8 per cent.

The difference is even more pronounced for a pint of lager. The average price in Dublin is €4.55. Elsewhere it is €4, a gap of 14 per cent.

Services are significantly more expensive in Dublin.

A wash, cut and blow dry for a man costs an average of €26 in Dublin and €17 outside the capital, a gap of 46 per cent. The equivalent for a woman is €42 in Dublin and €34.50 elsewhere, a difference of 21.8 per cent.

Going to the cinema costs on average more than €9 in Dublin and less than €8 in the rest of the country. Overall Dublin was more expensive for 58 per cent of the 78 items surveyed.

The CSO said the growing gap was partly accounted for by a number of new items which were all more expensive in Dublin than in the rest of the country.

However, Fine Gael's finance spokesman Richard Bruton said the gap was indicative of the Government's failure to tackle price inflation which he said was running effectively at 15 per cent for many working families.

The disparities would have been tackled under Fine Gael's proposals for a consumer rights enforcer, Mr Bruton added, and there was nothing in the Fianna Fáil/Green programme for government to tackle rising prices.