Government inspired inflation coming to a bus and rail station near you!

Well I suppose we are now six days into the New Year, so I should have expected news of Government sanctioned price increases by now. So to prove their efficiency, low and behold along they come, unlike the buses on time every January.

The Sunday Business Post informs us that the Department of Transport (not that there is any mention on their website as of this morning to that effect)has sanctioned fare increases on bus and rail services of up to 10% across the country. This of course is shockingly hypocritical in light of their statements on the need to tackle inflation. On top of these price hikes, many rail commuters are also facing new and increased car parking costs at stations. Recent figures from the CSO showed that more people are driving to work and less travelling on the buses in 2006 compared with 2002 and this price hike will only add to that.

I am reminded of this Fast Show sketch when I think about Government policy on inflaytion!


Public transport costs are one of the key areas where Government has the power to control prices and despite the fact that last June the Government hosted an anti-inflation summit to demonstrate its commitment to keeping pieces and costs down, it has year after year sanctioned increases in public transport fares. But of course, this is all easily explained. The Consumer Strategy Group report in 2005 highlighted the Governments’ conflict of interest, in that it is both the owner and regulator of the CIE group of companies, therefore it has the option of investing more in public transport and keeping costs down or it can pass the increased costs onto the consumer. And of course the latter argument always wins out, that if there is ever any argument of course in the first place.

And speaking of this Anti-Inflation summit when it was convened inflation was 5% and six months on it is still 5%. With the most recent inflation figures from the CSO showing that transport costs were the second largest contributor to inflation after food and drink prices in November 2007, it would have been sensible public policy in relation to reducing inflation, traffic gridlock and CO2 emission to freeze public transport fares. However at the moment, having the Government in charge of tackling inflation is a bit like having Tony Soprano in charge of crime reduction, they may know a lot about it, be responsible for a lot of it and have no interest in but reducing it.


I have to declare an interest, I am a daily Bus Eireann commuter from Ashbourne to Dublin myself. In general the service is good, but the cost is already steep at €5.75 daily return, so another 5-10% on that and I am really beginning to I feel that the Government wants me to go back to my car.

What we need is an independent transport regulator as proposed almost 3 years ago to set prices taking the needs of consumers into account along with increased competition to give consumers greater choice and to keep prices down.

Cowen-Could he become the Darling of Irish Depositors?

Yesterday the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the UK, Alistair Darling announced new measures that will increase the levels of protection for bank deposit holders from £35,000 to £50,000. This is in response to the crisis created by the near collapse of the Northern Rock (or Northern Wreck as it soon became known) in September and the sight of thousands of deposit holders queueing to withdraw their savings both in the UK and in Ireland. Thats very good news for savers in the UK, but what about here. The protection available to depositors here now falls well below the level which British consumers are entitled to, which in euro terms is just under €67,000. At present only €20,000 of depositors' savings are guaranteed here.

In October 2007 in response to Dáil questions (questions 98/122 October 16) the Tánaiste rambled on about a review at EU level and a report that will be published on the issue in mid 2008 which bore all the hallmarks of kicking this into touch. Our current scheme meets the minimum levels agreed by the EU member states, but there is no reason why Ireland cannot follow the UK example and greatly enhance the protection which savers have. As far as I am aware this doesn't even require legislation, it only requires amending the existing statutory instrument to reflect the new amounts. Of course there would have to be consultation with the banks who fund the scheme, but I am sure they would welcome anything that would maintain consumers confidence in the banking system and avoid a repeat of the scenes we saw outside Northern Rocks offices last year.

CAI will be writing to Brian Cowen calling on him to increase the levels in line with the UK.

It's expensive to talk in Ireland!

Comreg (this is the state body that regulates the communication sector)published a report last this week which showed that Irish consumers generate significantly higher revenue per month compared to consumers across the EU. This report shows that the Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for mobile phones per month was €44.66 in Ireland. The revenues per user here are way ahead of those in other EU countries, the next is France where the ARPU is €34.33 and the lowest is Germany at €19.15. The EU average is €27 per month.

Claims by the mobile phone industry that Irish consumers pay more because we use and speak more are unfounded on the basis that the French speak more but pay a lot less. We are supposed to have competition with 4 providers now, but it seems that once again the Irish consumer is considered easy picking for companies who it appears charge a lot less in other jurisdictions. I would have thought also that increase penetration, there are now 4.9million mobiles in circulation and with new technology costs should be coming down a lot more. In the January 2006 edition of Consumer Choice it was noted that only 39% of consumers felt they were getting value for money from their mobile network. I am sure not much has changed.

In my capacity as Chair of CAI, I called on Comreg to call in the mobile phone operators and insist on a plan of action to reduce costs to consumers. There is a precedent here in that earlier this year the EU Commission threatened to impose price caps unless mobile phone operators starting reducing the cost of roaming. This is an issue CAI will be following up with Comreg and the Government.

For the record!!!!

I am sure many of you like me have spent many a long hour on so-called customer care lines. Some are better than others, but you usually hear at some stage "that this call may be recorded for quality or training purposes" After a rather testing time with a phone company where I got 3 or 4 different stories over the space of a few weeks I was sorry that I hadn't recorded all my telephone conversations with them!!!

That got me thinking, in fact I can, just Google and there are several devices which will record telephone conversations. Also came across this service in the United States. This article appears to indicate that legally such conversations are admissible in Ireland, although I plan to check it out a little further, but interesting information here all the same. I am not sure what the reaction of service providers would be, but in the United States they don't like it, it seems some companies reps hang up when told by the consumer that they too are recording the call for "quality" purposes.

Given the misleading and often contradictory information often given out by phone, recorded calls could be a great source of backup for consumers seeking redress when things go wrong. Imagine being able to play back the tape of a conversation in a hearing of the small claims court to back up your claim!!!

Here is an example of a consumer recording of a series of phonecalls with a debt collection agency from the US

A New Job and New Blog!

Hi all, on November 27th last I was elected Chairman of the Consumers's Association of Ireland (CAI). Big task, but I am really looking forward to it. Have a look at our website if you want a bit more information about CAI or want to join, all new members welcome. I am hoping to blog regularly on consumer issues in Ireland from my own perspective. While I am chair of the CAI, the comments and views expressed here will be my own.

Perhaps you are wondering what the hell is a "consumerist". Well it is short hand for "consumer activist". I have been interested in consumer issues for over many years, my journey started off trying to sort out a consumer problem with a car purchase and that led me to the CAI in the first place, where I have been a member for over 10 years.

In that time I have come to realise that the interests of consumers are very much subservient to those of producers, providers, trade unions and other vested interests. Time and time again, vested interests are in there dictating policy in their area of involvement. Given the range of areas, its hard for consumers or consumer organisations to invest the time and money in issues, that a specific trade body such as the Irish Bankers Federation or the Construction Industry Federation can. However, in my view successive Governments have failed to even attempt to address the imbalance in policy making and decision making and some of their policies and decisions could have been produced by the vested interests themselves. I am hoping through my work with CAI to redress that imbalance. Sometimes consumer activism is associated with consumerism, the concept that shopping is the new religion. I am definitely not an adherent to that new faith.

I am in particular interesting in issues affecting vulnerable consumers (those on low/fixed incomes) and in the potential for progressive consumer activism and sustainable consumerism. I know thats sounds a bit heavy, but I hope my posts over the coming period explain it a bit more. Caveat Emptor.