Dáil Éireann debate -
Wednesday, 13 Jul 1960

Vol. 183 No. 11

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Consumer Price Index: Percentage Increase.

1.

Mr. Cosgrave

asked the Taoiseach the percentage increase in the food items included in the Consumer Price Index which have increased in price since February 1957, and the actual increase in each case.

The Taoiseach

Food prices fluctuate on a seasonal basis and, for this reason, a comparison between the mid-February prices of one year and the mid-May prices of another may be misleading unless allowance is made for this factor.

I propose, with the permission of the Ceann Comhairle, to circulate in the Official Report a statement which gives the national average retail prices of certain food items at mid-February, 1957 and mid-May, 1960 together with the change in prices in these items and for all food items included in the Consumer Price Index the percentage change over the period. In the case of certain food items, no attempt is made to obtain quotations for an identical quality of the different articles in all areas and, therefore, any average prices computed would not be meaningful. The correctness of the relative price changes is ensured by the fact that at each source the identical article is priced at successive enquiries. Price quotations in respect of some items of food are not available from all centres at each enquiry and the figures for the percentage changes in these prices, computed in such a way as to eliminate the effect of differences in coverage, may differ slightly from the percentages calculated from the actual changes.

As regards the general trend the food price index number as published in the recent Central Bank Report (Table 13) showed increases of 14.3 per cent. between Mid-February, 1957, and Mid-February, 1958, and of 4.3 per cent. between Mid-February, 1958, and Mid-February, 1959. Between Mid-February, 1959, and Mid-February, 1960, the general food price index number fell by 6.2 per cent.

Following is the statement:—

(a) National Average Retail Prices of certain Food items at mid-February, 1957 and mid-May, 1960, the difference between and the percentage change.

Article	Per	Average price to nearest ¼.	Increase (+) or decrease (-) between mid-Feb., 1957 and mid-May, 1960
Mid-Feb. 1957	Mid-May 1960
		s.	d.	s.	d.	d.	%
Beef:
Round steak	lb.	3	2	3	9	+	7	+	18.62
Sirloin	,,	3	5 ¼	4	2 ¾	+	9 ½	+	22.91
Rib	,,	2	9	3	1 ¾	+	4 ¾	+	14.34
Shoulder	,,	2	5 ¼	2	9 ½	+	4 ¼	+	14.59
Neck	,,	2	3	2	7	+	4	+	14.15
Corned brisket	,,	1	10	2	0 ¾	+	2 ¾	+	12.07
Liver	,,	2	5	2	7	+	2	+	6.40
Mutton:
Leg	,,	3	1 ¾	3	3 ¼	+	1 ½	+	3.79
Loin chops	,,	3	8	3	10 ¾	+	2 ¾	+	6.54
Neck	,,	2	0	1	11 ¾	–	¼	–	0.29
Shoulder	,,	2	7 ¼	2	7 ¼	—	+	0.51
Fillet	,,	3	3 ½	3	5 ¼	+	1 ¾	+	4.50
Bacon:
Irish, streaky	lb.	3	11	4	0 ¾	+	1 ¾	+	3.87
Irish, shoulder	,,	2	9 ½	2	8	–	1 ½	–	4.61
Pigs' heads	,,	1	1	—	11	–	2	–	14.52
Ham, uncooked	,,	4	0 ¼	4	1 ¾	+	1 ½	+	3.10
Ham, cooked	,,	6	8 ¾	6	11 ¾	+	3	+	3.80
Rashers, streaky	,,	4	0	4	2	+	2	+	4.55
Fresh pork, shoulder	,,	3	5	3	6 ½	+	1 ½	+	4.29
Pork sausages	,,	2	9 ¼	2	10	+	¾	+	2.54
Boiling fowl	,,	2	4 ¾	2	2 ¾	–	2	–	8.00
Kippered herring	doz.	4	4 ½	4	4	–	½	+	1.40
Fresh herring	lb.		10 ¾		11 ¼	+	½	–	3.29
Fish—Whiting	,,	1	10 ½	1	10 ¼	–	¼	+	1.09
Cod steak	,,	2	11 ¼	3	0	+	¾	+	3.31
Eggs	doz.	2	8 ½	2	9 ¼	+	¾	+	2.10
Butter—Irish Creamery	lb.	3	8 ¾	4	6 ½	+	9 ¾	+	21.78
Irish Farmers	,,	3	4 ¾	3	9 ¾	+	5	+	12.94
Margarine	,,	1	7 ¾	1	7 ¾	—	+	0.20
Cheese	,,	2	10 ½	3	0 ¾	+	2 ¼	+	6.24
Lard	,,	1	8	1	6 ¼	–	1 ¾	–	9.07
Fresh milk	quart		11 ¾		11 ¾	—	–	0.93
Bread	2 lb. loaf		9	1	3	+	6	+	63.91
Flour—household	3 ½ lbs.	1	0 ¾*	1	11 ¼	+	10 ½	+	79.84
Oatmeal	14 lbs.	8	9	8	6 ½	–	2 ½	–	3.11
Rice	lb.		11 ¼		11 ¼	—	–	1.69
Semolina	,,	1	0 ½	1	0 ¾	+	¼	–	1.73
Potatoes	14 lbs.	2	0 ¼	1	10 ¾	–	1 ½	–	5.93
Cabbage	head		5 ½		5 ½	—	+	0.98
Onions	lb.		8 ½		8	–	½	–	4.04
Carrots	,,		6		6 ¾	+	¾	+	13.10
Dried peas	,,	1	3 ¾	1	3 ½	–	¼	–	1.20
Cooking apples	,,		7 ½		9	+	1 ½	+	21.14
Oranges	,,	1	6 ¼	1	2 ¼	–	4	–	22.45
Tomatoes	,,	2	0 ¼	2	2 ½	+	2 ¼	+	9.23
Sultanas	,,	1	10 ¾	1	7 ¼	–	3 ½	–	15.49
Tinned beans in tomato sauce	1 lb. tin	1	2 ¼	1	1	–	1 ¼	–	8.60
Tea—best	lb.	8	3	7	5	–	10	–	11.64
as used by wage-earning classes	,,	7	1 ¼	6	1 ¾	–	11 ½	–	12.74
Coffee	,,	6	4 ¾	6	0 ¾	–	4	–	4.97
Cornflour	½ lb. pkt.		11 ¾		11 ½	–	¼	+	0.08
Custard powder	,,	1	0	1	0	—	–	0.59
Sugar	lb.		7		7 ½	+	½	+	7.43
Jam—Strawberry	,,	2	0	2	1 ¼	+	1 ¼	+	5.20
Mixed Fruit	,,	1	4 ¼	1	5	+	¾	+	6.42
Marmalade	,,	1	8 ¼	1	9	+	¾	+	4.56
Jellies	pkt.	—	9 ¼	—	9 ¼	—	–	0.43

* One fourth of the price of a stone of flour.

(b) Percentage change in prices of other food items entering into the Consumer Price Index between mid-February, 1957 and mid-May, 1960.

Commodity	Percentage increase (+) or decrease (-)	Commodity	Percentage increase (+) or decrease (-)
Tinned salmon	+9.98	Mustard	+5.56
Condensed milk	+3.31	Sauce	+2.41
Cake	+1.91	Boiled sweets	+0.20
Breakfast cereals	+1.47	Bar of chocolate	+1.27
Tinned pears	–7.51	Biscuits	+ 10.24
Cocoa	+ 12.73	Soft Drinks	+0.13
Salt, table	–0.42	Other groceries	+ 14.65