Time to get real about inflation

Everyone is having their say on inflation. The Government protests its innocence, the unions look to renegotiate a pay deal on which the ink is barely dry and the employers blame the others and vow not to budge an inch. No-one, though, seems prepared to address the issues at the heart of the current rise in consumer prices. Little could be done domestically about the oil price rises and the fall of the euro which have contributed to the problem, but then they have done so in every euro-zone state and we are the ones with an inflation rate three times the EU average.

But a combination of budgetary increases in taxes from the Government, substantial price rises in a range of goods and services and an inflationary pay deal agreed by all three social partners have played their part in creating our current predicament.

All need to get inflation under control and quickly, but short-term fixes will not do the job. For years, the Central Bank has been warning that the economy is growing at an unsustainable rate. No-one wanted to know. Maybe now, all sides will act to put the brakes on our runaway economy before it hits the buffers.