The Departments of Finance and of Enterprise and Employment are discussing the appointment of extra consumer inspectors to police the Government's new anti-inflation measures and are formalising a budget for the campaign to raise public awareness of prices.
The director of consumer affairs, Ms Carmel Foley, said yesterday she did not know what that budget would be and no upper limit had been set. Twelve extra inspectors will be appointed to her office, a doubling of the present cohort.
She said that drink prices in bars, petrol, groceries, household products and service industries, including restaurants, would be the first areas to be examined. She intends to name and shame offenders, she said, on an ongoing basis, but without actually identifying individuals because this would have implications for future prosecutions.
Fr Sean Healy, of the Conference of Religious in Ireland, has welcomed the Government's initiatives "as far as they go". But he said far more needed to be done if poor people are to be protected in the present inflationary situation. "An anti-inflationary strategy must include specific proposals to address the situation of the country's most vulnerable. The Government's latest announcement fails to do so," he said.
However, he welcomed the focus on retail prices but said he hoped the £40 million childcare provision would be not tax-based.
