The grass is sometimes greener in rip-off Ireland

Ground Floor: Good news if you live in Clondalkin or Killaloe, from where I've received letters informing me that pharmacists in both areas sell generic ibuprofen at around the same prices as Spain.

At the Green Park Pharmacy, Clondalkin, you can pick up a pack of 48 tablets for €4.88 (identical to the Spanish price), while Kathryn Collins in Killaloe tells me generic ibuprofen is available at €5.07 for 48.

She also tells me that 12 Neurofen should cost about €2.44 not €4.60.

That may be the case, but what it should cost and what it did cost were two separate things. I've subsequently noticed, however, that the smaller packs of tablets in a pharmacy often cost only a little less than a larger packet, so the advice is clearly to go large when you're looking for painkillers.

Fintan Moore in Clondalkin also sells cheap 9v batteries, in addition to being a purveyor of pain relieving products. However, the situation with the shopping basket goods is that I'm buying them in the same shop each time - I could have bought the battery a bit cheaper in Spain too if I'd gone to the local hardware store.

Ms Collins also advises that self-medication for asthma shouldn't be encouraged which, of course, I wasn't doing. I was merely pointing out that the price discrepancies on these products have caused this to happen.

Actually, some time ago I wrote an article for this paper in which I suggested that Government support for the purchase of inhalers would mean that less-well-off families could more easily afford their medication and that, in taking it as prescribed, they would save the State money by not ending up in the A&E units of our hospitals as a result of preventable attacks.

The concept of the euro zone was, ultimately, to harmonise prices across Europe. But as we've seen, and according to a recent report from investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein (DKW), that hasn't happened. In fact, DKW estimates that it could take 20 years before euro-zone prices are similar across national borders.

Last year the price differentials across six euro-zone cities was 14.9 per cent. This year it was 14.5 per cent. Goods that were closer in price included books and CDs but food, alcohol and cigarettes diverged even more.

Of course, books and CDs can be purchased online and shipped without difficulty while prices can also be easily compared, which means greater competition in these areas and is, presumably, why these prices are closer together. Even though I can sign up to Carrefour online, for example, I can't actually get them to deliver the weekly grocery shopping (including cheap pistachio nuts) to Clontarf!

The differences in alcohol and cigarettes can mainly be accounted for by different taxation treatments.

Despite the general feeling in the Republic that we are constantly being ripped, we're also the envy of many other euro-zone nations - not least the most recent EU member-states of eastern Europe.

Last weekend a (leaked) draft report drawn up by the EU concluded that Europe had lost ground to both the US and Asia and that many targets which were intended to be achieved by 2010 would be missed, including increasing employment in member-states.

In April, the European Commission made a proposal for a council decision on employment policies of member-states, saying that Europe needed more and better jobs and that it was urgent that effective action be taken to achieve the objectives of full employment, quality and productivity at work, and strengthened social cohesion and inclusion. The paper contained 10 specific guidelines plus guidance on improving the governance of existing policies.

In relation to the Republic, it noted that we had made "impressive progress" in relation to employment and productivity, with a two-thirds fall in unemployment since 1997 and long-term unemployment down from 6.1 per cent to 1.3 per cent (although there's still a significant gap in relation to unemployment rates between men and women as well as a high gender pay gap).

The report made very few recommendations for Ireland. However, it did suggest that we give priority to increasing access to the labour market; increasing the supply and affordability of childcare facilities and taking urgent action to tackle the causes of the gender gap; and introducing policies to reduce early school leaving and increasing participation in training.

In the same period, Spain had an even higher increase in employment but their unemployment level still remains well above the EU average.

Female participation, and the participation of older workers, remain - according to the report - particularly low. Additionally, about a third of the workforce are on fixed-term, rather than permanent, contracts.

The EU wants Spain to prioritise modernising the working environment and strengthening productivity; revise the regulatory framework regarding fixed contracts; raise incentives for women to participate in the labour market; define a comprehensive strategy towards active ageing; reduce early school leaving; ensure quality and labour market relevance of tertiary education; and strengthen incentives for life-long learning.

Actually, the early school leaving issue is one which is common to most member-states and is one of the blindingly obvious things.

Nevertheless, there are many areas in which we are ahead of our European neighbours and, while we complain about some areas of our economy, there are others about which we should be extremely happy.

The grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence. But there's still no harm in checking out whatever fertilizer they might be using.