Godfrey's Gospel: Government is in denial as cost of living soars

LET’S be honest – we all know the price of food has shot through the roof, irrespective of what our illustrious leaders tell us. In the round, a phrase I absolutely hate, the cost of a shopping basket or trolley, whatever you are having yourself, has gone up by over 25 per cent in the last few of years.

That means there are items in your shopping basket that have gone up far more than that. It really hit home with me last weekend when I went to a local supermarket, it doesn’t matter which one because, as far as I can see, there is only a couple of pence between any of them, when I discovered you practically have to take out a second mortgage on the house to buy a box of free-range eggs.

Did you ever think the day would come when a few eggs would cost over €5. The hens must have got some pay rise because over the past three years the cost of one of their eggs has increased by 23 per cent.

If you think that is bad, the all-time favourite item on any dinner plate in Ireland, rooster potatoes (no relation to the hens, I’m sure) went up by no less than 42 per cent in the same period.

Any self-respecting Irishman has to have a good scoop of butter on his spuds. But here, too, the price has shot through the roof. Kerrygold, regarded by butter connoisseurs as one of the best in the world, is also one of the most expensive. A pound of butter, or 454g to be up to date with the packaging, has gone up by 42 per cent in the past three years. So, if you were just going to buy potatoes and butter and nothing else, you would find it a lot more expensive than that ‘round’ figure of 25 per cent I spoke about earlier.

The cost of Siucra granulated sugar has also gone through the roof during the past 36 months. Don’t get me started about sugar, it is bad enough that we lost the sugar factory back in 2005 after almost 80 years of production, along with 190 full time jobs, 130 part-time jobs and God knows how many others involved in providing various services to the plant, we even lost the name.

The company who owns and distributes Siucra sugar in Ireland is Nordzucker AG, a German sugar manufacturer, who also own the McKinney’s brand. Funnily enough, the sugar Nordzucker AG produces comes from sugar beet, the same as was processed at Carlow sugar factory before some bright spark sold a story that it wasn’t economical to continue to produce sugar in Ireland.

I know the market in Ireland was negligible compared to mainland Europe, so it would be wrong to compare revenues, but today Nordzucker AG produces almost three million tonnes of sugar and generates over €2 billion in revenue. Irrespective of how successful they are, that doesn’t solve the problem of food inflation in this country.

Once upon a time, we were all told mince was, perhaps, the cheapest meat you could buy. It was really a mix ‘n’ match of all the odd pieces cut off various parts of the cow. It was the butcher maximising profit for himself – as he is quite entitled to do.

Then we got all healthy and started asking about the fat content in mince to such an extent that it is now sold with the fat content emblazoned across the front of the packaging.

You will often see mince on sale at a knockdown price, only to discover this is confined to mince with a fat content of 12 or 18 per cent. Last week, I was left with my mouth open when I discovered 800g of mince with 5% fat content had gone up in price to almost €8. Not too long ago the same 800g was on sale for under €7.

Suddenly, that medium shopping trolley which used to cost about €70 has increased to over €100 and you know in your heart of hearts that another visit to a supermarket will be required later in the week.

And if you think there will be any respite from government, you had better think again. Already they are throwing off warning shots that cost of living supports which had been introduced to soften the blow were only temporary and we should not expect to see them continue into the future.

I knew we were in trouble when I read recently that the Central Bank is raising prices on subsidised meals, drinks and snacks at its staff restaurant and café, effective from the start of this month.

Can you believe it – they were covering up to 70 per cent of the cost of a sandwich, snack or hot meal. Wow, wouldn’t I have loved to work there. If they can’t balance the books without passing on the cost to its staff, where does that leave the rest of us.

Mind you, this is the first time in 16 years they have raised their prices ‒ to take account of food inflation and wages.