Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 9 Jul 1970

Vol. 248 No. 6

Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Price of Foodstuffs.

1.

Mr. Desmond

asked the Taoiseach the national average retail price as of the latest available date for foodstuffs; and the percentage increase over the past five years for each item.

Parliamentary Secretary to the Taoiseach (Mr. Andrews)

With your permission, Sir, I propose to circulate in the Official Report a statement giving the information requested by the Deputy. National average retail prices are given for mid-May, 1970, for the principal food items included in the consumer price index. In introducing the new consumer price index in November, 1968, certain revisions were made to the list of items priced. As a consequence, in compiling the percentage change in prices between mid-May, 1965, and mid-May, 1970, it was necessary to group some of the individual items.

Following is the statement:

(a) National average retail prices of principal articles of food at mid-May, 1970.

Commodity	Unit	Mid-May, 1970*
		s.	d.
Beef:
Round steak	lb.	7	3.1
Sirloin	,,	8	7.8
Sirloin roast	,,	7	2.3
Rib steak	,,	5	5.6
Brisket corned beef	,,	2	11.8
Mutton:
Leg (whole)	,,	5	7.8
Loin chops	,,	7	0.6
Cutlets (rib chops)	,,	5	11.8
Gigot chops	,,	5	10.0
Neck	,,	2	4.3
Liver	,,	5	7.0
Pork:
Leg (whole)	,,	5	11.7
Loin chops	,,	7	0.0
Shoulder (whole)	,,	5	0.3
Steak	,,	8	9.7
Bacon:
Best back rashers	,,	7	3.2
Streaky	,,	5	5.0
Ham, uncooked	,,	5	11.4
Shoulder (whole)	,,	3	4.8
Ham, cooked	,,	11	4.4
Sausages, pork	,,	3	8.6
Black pudding	,,	2	3.9
Fish:
Whiting, fillets	,,	3	4.8
Cod cutlets	,,	4	7.1
Plaice, fillets	,,	6	11.9
Kippers	,,	2	11.8
Fresh vegetables:
Potatoes	3½ lbs.	1	9.8
Tomatoes	lb.	4	4.8
Onions	,,	1	7.7
Carrots	,,		11.9
Cabbage (medium size)	each		10.5
Bread:
White, sliced	2 lb.	2	2.9
White, unsliced	,,	2	2.1
Flour:
White, plain	3½ lb.	3	1.1
White, self-raising	,,	3	2.8
Fresh milk	pint		9.1
Cheese:
Processed	1/2 lb.	1	11.1
Natural	lb.	3	11.6
Eggs standard	doz.	3	10.6
Butter (creamery)	lb.	4	11.6
Margarine	1/2 lb.	1	2.0
Tea:
Best quality	1/4 lb.	2	0.6
Medium	,,	1	8.1
Sugar	2 lb.	1	8.5
Oatmeal, packet	3½ lb.	3	6.3
Cornflour	lb.	1	8.6

*These average retail prices include turnover tax.

(b) Percentage change in the price of certain individual food items or groups of food items entering into the Consumer Price Index between mid-May, 1965, and mid-May, 1970.

Commodity	Percentage increase (+) or decrease (-)
Food:
Beef	+	33.03
Mutton	+	34.00
Pork	+	29.72
Rashers	+	23.21
Ham, uncooked	+	23.35
Bacon	+	20.80
Poultry*	+	4.70
Ham, cooked	+	38.48
Sausages, pork	+	21.93
Fresh fish	+	35.17
Dried and cured fish*	+	17.84
Tinned fish*	+	30.83
Potatoes	+	16.25
Tomatoes	+	78.16
Onions	+	116.48
Carrots	+	12.15
Cabbage	+	42.03
Dried peas*	+	19.72
Tinned vegetables*	+	17.07
Bread	+	43.51
Flour	+	33.23
Biscuits*	+	11.25
Cake*	+	15.01
Fresh milk*	+	27.74
Condensed milk*	+	13.03
Cheese	+	11.70
Eggs	+	26.20
Butter, creamery	+	7.40
Margarine	+	19.25
Cooking fat*	+	12.43
Apples, cooking*	+	67.55
Oranges*	+	28.20
Tinned fruit*	+	7.56
Dried fruit*	+	24.12
Tea	+	6.21
Coffee*	+	6.89
Cocoa*	+	19.81
Sugar: white granulated	+	10.91
Breakfast cereals*	+	6.39
Oatmeal	+	10.79
Cornflour	+	4.86
Rice*	+	33.12
Semolina*	+	18.78
Jelly*	+	4.60
Custard powder*	+	12.85
Jam*	+	17.55
Marmalade*	+	16.84
Sweets*	+	19.70
Chocolate bars*	+	26.53
Soft drinks*	+	27.76
Sauce*	+	7.00
Salt*	+	21.59
Mustard*	+	8.36

* As quotations are not obtained for an identical quality for each price reported national average prices for these items are not meaningful and have not been included in (a) above.