The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, has launched an offensive against "profiteering" within the professions, warning that they "had better get real".

Addressing the IMI Management Conference in Killarney, Mr Ahern said the practices of "learned professions or local monopolists, or middle men" had helped to push inflation up to a problematic level. He said it was "time to call a halt to profiteering". "The reality is that the inflation figures are far too high. The last Central Statistics Office report shows quite clearly that the professional services continue to take profits," the Taoiseach said. "They do not add to growth and they do not add to exports."

Taking an aggressive position on competition, Mr Ahern said those occupying a privileged position in Irish society had had it too easy for too long. "I want to send out a clear message this morning that those who are living off Irish productivity and output growth, rather than contributing to it, had better get real."

He particularly highlighted professions that have been "shielded from the pressures of international competition". The formal endeavours of the Competition Authority, when combined with the power of public opinion and the work of the Director of Consumer Affairs, would succeed in confronting "those who do not recognise the need to change", Mr Ahern promised. "When our competitive survival is at stake, there is no room for the comfortably indifferent," he said.

Mr Ahern later told reporters that he hoped the Competition Authority would push the profiteering issue "very hard", adding that he expected to see progress in this area soon.

The authority recently published a report into eight professions - solicitors, barristers, doctors, architects, vets, engineers, opticians and dentists - which estimated that increased competition could push down the cost of some services by 30 per cent.