Vol. 566 No. 1
171 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if her attention has been drawn to the sharp deviation between trade in wholesale prices and trade in prices in retail shops; and the initiatives with which she plans to deal with this. [12372/03]
I have noted the movements in the recently published consumer price index and wholesale price index to which the Deputy refers. Wholesale prices of goods supplied to retailers are only one component of the final retail price. It may be that movements in other components of cost at retail level are responsible for the apparent divergence between wholesale and retail prices generally. The matter will require further examination and I have requested my Department to pursue this in connection with Forfás which is currently carrying out analytical work on inflation generally.
