No reputable company could use the changeover to the euro to justify price increases, the Joint Committee on European Affairs heard yesterday.
The director of Consumer Affairs, Ms Carmel Foley, told the committee it was important that companies know they could not blame the euro "or use it as a handy shorthand" to excuse price increases.
Ms Foley said yesterday's reversal by Glanbia of its plans to charge the same for a half-litre of milk as it does for a pint showed it had "climbed down" because of public reaction. "No reputable company can possibly use the euro to justify increases in prices."
The advice to consumers was the same, if they did not trust the claims of manufacturers, "hit them where it hurts, hit them in their pockets by walking away". Glanbia had planned to charge the same price for less volume, the equivalent of a 13.6 per cent price increase. When it announced a change of mind yesterday, the company said it recognised the public demand to keep the pint.
Speaking to reporters after the Oireachtas meeting, Ms Foley said she preferred not to comment on the reasons given by Glanbia, but she was glad it had reconsidered.
"I had been particularly shocked at the linking of the euro in their correspondence," she said, "and I am grateful to the anonymous retailer who blew the whistle on them, because there is so much at stake in the euro changeover that it could have been tainted, completely unjustifiably." She put the change of mind down to "the outcry" that followed news of the plans, and said the consumer was "a sleeping giant" whose powers were shown.
In her presentation to the committee, Ms Foley said that rather than finding evidence of price increases in the run-up to the euro, her office was finding that misleading information was a problem.
Warning against "careless talk", she said misinformed shop assistants or "people who are just looking for an easy answer are saying things like, 'Oh, it's all because of the euro', when explaining price rises to customers." In reply to the committee chair, Mr Bernard Durkan TD (FG), who said he had allegations that some retailers were "gently walking up prices" in the last six months, Ms Foley said the harsh truth was that no supplier or seller needed the euro as an excuse to put up prices.
She said sellers should tell consumers the reasons behind price increases. Her office intended to subject consumer price indices figures from the Central Statistics Office to "more analysis than usual" in the coming months.
However, she said: "We haven't seen evidence of retailers wanting to benefit from the changeover." She also said 19 trade associations and five sectors, including IBEC, and more than 100 large retail outlets have so far signed up to the national code on euro changeover.
She was also in discussion with the Licensed Vintners' Association as to whether its members would sign up. Her office had noted that pub prices tended to end in a zero or a five. "Vintners generally don't deal in copper. I do not expect a business which does not deal in copper now to deal in copper after the changeover." But all businesses should round up to the nearest unit they deal in, she said. By signing the national code, they were committing themselves not to take advantage of this.