Pricewatch »

• Stop the madness!

  December 3, 2008 @ 9:55 am | by Conor Pope

  Our dear finance minister has repeated his warning to the Republic’s consumers to shop at home and to turn their back on bargains across the border or else our sick won’t be treated and our young won’t be educated. “When you shop in the State, you do help the taxpayer,” he said on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme today. “If you shop at home this Christmas, and shop a little bit more this Christmas and if you recognise that money is going to help educate your children and care for people in hospitals and pay for our medical expenses, which the State has to pay for, I think you’ll realise that it is important to shop at home.”

  Hmm.

  You know what, I reckon Lenihan would be much better off dropping this patriotic line and saying: ‘Listen guys I know you can save money up North but do you really, really want to waste your precious time off in the run-up to Christmas stuck in mile-long tailbacks on the road to Newry? Do you really want to spend an hour-and-a-half finding a place to park and fighting with fellow shoppers for the handful of wonky trolleys left in the trolley bay before discovering that the insainsburys shelves have been stripped of all booze and high price items and things you actually want and can genuinely make savings on long before you arrived?”

  That’d certainly have me convinced.

• A bitter pill to swallow

  September 15, 2008 @ 3:12 pm | by Conor Pope

  When people complain about higher prices in Ireland, they tend to focus on groceries and clothes and, while the discrepancies in the cost of identical products between this jurisdiction and others in these areas can be pretty hefty, there are, at least, some ways to economise.

  By shopping in the Aldis and Penneys of the retail world, consumers can undoubtedly cut costs and by swapping overpriced but instantly recognisable brands in favour of generic own-brand alternatives, a packet can be saved. There are, however, other areas where the price gaps between here and almost everywhere else is as great, if not greater, but consumer choice is significantly reduced and the ability to shop around almost non-existent.

  While it won’t come as a shock to many people to learn that Irish consumers pay considerably more than those living in other jurisdictions for many medicines – both over the counter and prescription – the extent of some of the price differences are truly shocking.
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