Madam, - The recent Government-funded price awareness campaign run by the Office of Consumer Affairs, "Know the price - or pay it", only adds to the patronising message delivered by the Tánaiste, Mary Harney, earlier this year when she blamed the high cost of living on Irish consumers for their reluctance to "shop around".
The problem is not that we don't know the price of things. The problem is that we do. We don't need to resort to ESRI reports, financial institution reviews, or housing indexes to tell us that Ireland is fast becoming a nation where most young people can no longer afford to live.
We know that at an average cost of €300,000 we will not be able to afford a house in Dublin. We know that the average rental on a half-decent one-bedroom apartment in this city (€1,000-€1,200) takes up almost two-thirds of the average take-home monthly pay. We know that the price of a return train ticket to Cork from Dublin is €51.50 (promise of a seat not included). We know that before you get into a taxi in this city the meter starts running. We know this is the most expensive country in the euro-zone.
We know all this because a lack of real competition, the Government's "let them eat cake" attitude and the increasing greed of retailers is turning this country into a black hole void of any real quality of life for its young.
Did Ms Harney and her coalition colleagues "shop around" before deciding to waste millions of taxpayers money on countless tribunals, consultants' reports and Luas fiascos? This is just the tip of a very expensive iceberg of tax evasion, environmental nightmares, infrastructural disaster and transport chaos all funded by the ever forgiving Irish taxpayer.
The Irish consumer knows the price. We just can't afford it! - Yours, etc.,
JUNE SHANNON, Ranelagh Road, Dublin 6.