Shoppers urged to "resist bargains"

Permabear

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Thomas_S_Hunterson

The government's just being silly to be honest, although they do, I think, have our best interests at heart.

We're never going to see more reasonably prices if people feel some sort of moral duty to pay whatever is asked of them.

A little bit of competition will do business in Ireland good. Companies will become more efficient or else go under.

mike65

There is a bit of a campiagn afoot from pundits, politicos and even presenters to make the hard pressed shopper feel like a heel for seeking out value. Someone suggested a departure tax be applied at the border, but they may have been joking. Or possibly not.

Of course peeps have been shopping for bargins for years via the interweb but as thats invisible no one in power complains.

Mike

Permabear

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spadder

If this is their solution to the problem, we are f**ked.

Why don't the gobsh'tes look at a vat rebate or an urgent vat drop.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

donegalfella wrote: »

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I agree 100%, but unfortunately people aren't very willing to 'shop around' when it comes to finding a government and public sector they are happy with, as it means leaving the country:D so the public sector is, I think, always going to be a bit of a mess.

Victor McDade

**cancels weekend trip to Newry and pulls on '90 Ireland top

Blazer

So lets get this...retailers are ripping us off and start of the year Mary Harney advises us to shop around for the best bargains.
Consumers do so,,trips to NY, the north etc and now they're complaining?
some cheek:mad:

genericgoon

mike65 wrote: »

There is a bit of a campiagn afoot from pundits, politicos and even presenters to make the hard pressed shopper feel like a heel for seeking out value. Someone suggested a departure tax be applied at the border, but they may have been joking. Or possibly not.

Of course peeps have been shopping for bargins for years via the interweb but as thats invisible no one in power complains.

Mike

Sure, we should bring back the checkpoints since the auld 80s nostalgia is all the rage these days.

spadder

When the sheriff comes to repossess your house, tell him that you bought your groceries in the ROI, he will understand.

Thomas_S_Hunterson

spadder wrote: »

When the sheriff comes to repossess your house, tell him that you bought your groceries in the ROI, he will understand.

It's the bailiffs you want to watch out for:p

Mizu_Ger

Has the goverment ever tried to carry out an analysis of why prices here are so high. Greedy businesses? Generally higher wages? Less competition? Higher VAT? etc etc. i still don't understand why everything is so much more expensive here.

mike65

Its a mix from transport costs to distributor price gouging to "shoulder shrug" attitude of shoppers who put up with it.

Mike

chops1990

our so-called "government" is a piece of ****ing ****!!!!! They havent got a clue. **** em!!! Why dont they spend more of their 200,000 a year salary. *****! the pay cut they took recently is pathetic! 200,000 - 30,000 = 170,000. oh my what a big difference. they have big coushy jobs and urge people to make sacrifices while making none theirselves!! they are ment to have the greater good of the country at heart not their pockets!!!!!!!

*sigh* I had to get that off my chest

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simu

Step away from the mike, minister!

Nodin

genericgoon wrote: »

Sure, we should bring back the checkpoints since the auld 80s nostalgia is all the rage these days.

...and unapprove a few roads too, for the buzz.

Shoppers should spend more money in the run up to Christmas to help fund the health and education systems, Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said today.

Mr Lenihan has previously urged shoppers to do their “patriotic duty” and resist the urge to avail of bargains in the North.

The Minister said today the situation whereby consumers are pouring into Northern Ireland to take advantage of currency differences and the recent lowering of VAT rates in the UK was having a detrimental effect on the Irish economy.

“When you shop in the State, you do help the taxpayer,” he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme today.

.......I'd imagine everybody who lost cash up there when the North used head South had a few choice words to say to that one.......

VERYinterested

Very hypocritical advice from the Govt! They use ad agencies in Norn Iron to develop their advertising for Enterprise Ireland! Then there's the Road Safety Authority, also developed and booked from the North!

Permabear

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super_furry

Hang on, wasn't it only a few months back the government (Harney) were telling us to shop around?

Permabear

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super_furry

Ahhh, so we're to shop around, but no too much.

Permabear

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kmick

Its time to shop around for a new government. Idiots - patriotic duty - wtf?

mikemac

super_furry wrote: »

Hang on, wasn't it only a few months back the government (Harney) were telling us to shop around?

That's was a few years ago.
Back when she was Enterprise, Trade & Employment minister so that's saying something.

Everyone is going on about this one comment but it's nearly 5 years old at this stage

jmayo

donegalfella wrote: »

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A wasted talent
With times getting hard and not being allowed to shop across the border you may get few quid as a writer for Louis Walsh and his latest protegees.

micmclo wrote: »

That's was a few years ago.
Back when she was Enterprise, Trade & Employment minister so that's saying something.

Everyone is going on about this one comment but it's nearly 5 years old at this stage

Yeah she said f*** all useful and meaningfulsince entering the Dept of Health.
Just ask some of the families of the dead. :rolleyes:

gandalf

micmclo wrote: »

That's was a few years ago.
Back when she was Enterprise, Trade & Employment minister so that's saying something.

Everyone is going on about this one comment but it's nearly 5 years old at this stage

Yes what it says is that people warned we were over priced back then and that was the reaction from the so called Government of the day.

Now when everyone heeds the advice they talk about patriotic duty and paying over the odds.

Pathetic is the only word to describe the current bunches reaction to the economic crisis. Just waiting for them to trott out the famous "Tightened your belts" line from the 1980's to cap it off.

Deedsie

I wonder would the EU leaders be peed off to see the government openly telling Irish Citizens to ignore the free market.

Bring the prices down and we'll shop in Ireland. Do they think people like travelling away from there localities to buy groceries up North, you'd swear they think people are out to intentionally finish off the economy.

Its the government who allowed our economy get in such a state, and now that its on the ropes its the average joe getting accused of furthering this recession by shopping up North or in Britain or France or wherever we get value.

If this is the height of there attempts at addressing this issue, then they should be ashamed of themselves. Drop the VAT to 16.5 and announce retail competition review board that will actually review something of the greed, shop owners say transport of goods is to expensive, is it to much to expect them to shop around also in the interest of themselves and there customers?

And do it now, before Christmas and save the economy the extra pressure this haemoraghing of Irish money out of the Republic is going to cause.

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Liam Byrne

Can we have a look for some politicians while we're up there ?

Even the shower that refuse to take their seats in Stormont are better than our shower of idiotic wasters....

Christ above; to think that this is the crowd that convinced people that we could trust them with the economy ????

Close down the Dail and let the country find it's own feet - we'd be better off than having a bunch of patronising, out-of-touch, useless money-wasters up there.

After hearing this rubbish, I'd almost deliberately start shopping abroad so that Cowen & Harney and all the others in this shower of useless idiots would have less of my tax to waste.....

Mr.Micro

Brian Lenihan diminishes IMO by the day. He is wretchedly woeful. I cannot belive that he thinks that hard pressed people will give up their money to rip off retailers and 21.5% vat here in Ireland when they can get fantastic value in the north. Has he lost the plot?

kleefarr

Mr.Micro wrote: »

Brian Lenihan diminishes IMO by the day. He is wretchedly woeful. I cannot believe that he thinks that hard pressed people will give up their money to rip off retailers and 21.5% vat here in Ireland when they can get fantastic value in the north. Has he lost the plot?

He has. But not only that, it sounds like most of the politicians think that the general public are dim and cannot think for themselves. That they will follow the instructions and suggestions of theirs and shop where it will cost them more.

It beggars belief really.

Permabear

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dresden8

donegalfella wrote: »

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Hello!

Fianna Fail.

Hello!

juuge

Brian Lenihan wants us all to not only stop shopping in N.Ireland but also he wants us to spend 'a little more' . How out of touch with reality is this guy ? He wants us to do the patriotic thing !
The CEO of Fás was caught fiddling (stealing) his expenses and guess what he gets a golden handshake. Very patriotic ! The banks along with the government created this whole sorry mess and guess what, the same minister wines & dines them all in Farmleigh and leaves the same idiots that caused the problem in the first place, still in charge. How patriotic is that?
Why are we putting up with this ???

gurramok

Which is why the more that do shop up there, the further pressure on the retailers down here to match the prices even within 10% on basics.(that will be a good thing)

I shopped in Newry last Sunday and along with the missus we spent about 700euro on basics and pressies, the savings are just unreal. Its not even near 10% after petrol expense, its more like 40% on nearly everything.

Once there is less and less money going to state coffers, that means less and less money for waste in govt and paying more money to the overpaid public sector.

Don't worry, essential front line services won't be cut back as that is a vote loser just like what happened in the budget.

Its not my problem they mismanaged the economy, survival comes first in a recession. Its the govt's responsibility to make this place competitive again to stop hordes shopping around over the border.

Permabear

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Who the hell does Lenihan think he is, go and **** yourself, I'll shop where I like.

FF got us into the mess we're in and they should do something about it to get us out of it. I'm sorry it's the peoples fault :mad: and it's our duty to fix the mess, the only thing you can blame the majority of the people for is for voting FF back in.
Here's a wee tip for you Mr Lenihan, lower the cost of living here, and as for being a member state of the EU I think it's very unpatriotic when it comes to VRT.

You really have to laugh, so much for wanting a united Ireland, that only works when people from the north come and shop down here. When that was going on you didn't here government in the North saying people were unpatriotic.

This government is so out of touch with reality, I think it's very unpatriotic of them to expect my taxes to pay their wages, they're certainly not value for money.

jmayo

This is one part donegalfella's freee market I very much agree with.
I have for years being buying electronics outside Ireland, either from UK or Germany but now I am going to start buying a lot more day to day items such as grociers etc over the border.

The way Lenihan sounds today, harps back to almost the days of Dev back in the 30s with his protectionist sh***.

The retailers in the South have been screwing us with high prices, under pretence that costs were much higher here.
Costs were/are higher but then when streling exchange rates are more favourable do they pass on the savings ?
Do they F***.
As someone mentioned check out British Magazine prices in Easons, and thus anyone they distribute to. The prices did not drop one iota.

Even if VAT rates were dropped here would our greedly retailers/distributors pass on these savings ?
Then you have a government asking us to be patriotic :mad::mad::mad:

dresden8

jmayo wrote: »

Even if VAT rates were dropped here would our greedly retailers/distributors pass on these savings ?

You may remember McCreevy tried dropping the VAT rate and the retailers f*cked us over for the 1%. When he put it back up they f*cked us over again.

That 1% could end up costing the thieving b@st@rds a lot. Good enough for them.

NOGMaxpower

i have no sympathy for Irish businesses who have been milking us dry since we ever moved to the Euro. Fook them if they go out of business its their own fault, they are the ones who brought the recession our way let them go bust.

In the meantime i'll be shopping up north and or online for bargains.

It really grinds my gears that the same store in Dublin charges 30% more than the same store up north or online

Rip off Ireland you scum are getting what you deserve!

old boy

people will not take that type of tripe any more, for a barrister to come out with that drivel just explains how far from reality the toffs are, i still giggle at the piece on tv where clown cowen says how he was responsible for careful and prudent management of the nations finances while he minister for stupidity

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endplate

I opened up my own business nearly 2 years ago. We're tied in with the social welfare and HSE so hopefully that will make us resonably recession proof. I never realised exactly how expensive it can be to run a business. In a lot of cases shops have to charge what they charge cos of the costs involved. The proceedures and protocals all cost money along with the cost of living is a major problem which is tied in with the minimum wage.

Now I'm delighted that so many people are going up the North as it shows this government what sort of a shower of incompetant buffoons they are. Did you see Lenihan doing his C Haughey impression last night on the news not good for his rep.

Costs need to be brought down now day to day stuff needs to be simplified, but instead the attitude from the Dail is lets bury our heads in the sand sure won't it go away.

This Government has supported the public sector for too long and has refused to promote small business and entrepreneurship now is the time to turn that around and get Ireland working again

LostinBlanch

Deedsie wrote: »

announce retail competition review board that will actually review something of the greed, shop owners say transport of goods is to expensive, is it to much to expect them to shop around also in the interest of themselves and there customers?

First of all you're assuming that the govt actually want to promote competition. The govt set up consumer association is just a talking shop filled with party hacks out to give the appearance that something is being done, while they collect their expenses. To see what Cowen really thinks of consumers remember back to him referring to them/us as fúckers to Mary Coughlan in the Dáil.

They have been more than happy to effectively collude in the multiples gouging citizens of this state by not taking competition seriously. In the US price fixing etc is seen as racketeering and is policed by the FBI which isn't afraid to use all the powers it has. There's no chance that CAB would be given such powers and the extra resources to police the multiples who match each others prices, and rip us off here. All the government is concerned about is the appearance of competition.

AFAIK the people going North to shop are doing so not just to get bargains, a good enough reason to go anyway. But also as a big fúck you to the rip off merchants and the incompetent government that has effectively been sanctioning this continued rip off. This is the only hope that prices will come down in the south.

No doubt some FF or Green hacks will appear on here shortly trying to defend the continued rip off.

juuge

old boy wrote: »

people will not take that type of tripe any more, for a barrister to come out with that drivel just explains how far from reality the toffs are.

I couldn't agree more !
What we need to run the dept. of finance is a 'shop-keeper'. Someone that knows the cost of living and the value of a euro. What we have is a group of ministers who collectively have been 'out of society/reality' for the last eleven years. How many of them would know the price of anything? They've been shielded from reality for all this time. They have to go now, for all our sakes.

LostinBlanch

Electricity prices to go down in the North, not here surprise surprise.

A reduction in electricity prices for hard-pressed consumers in the North will be announced before Christmas, it was revealed today.

Prices were increased by 33.3% in the autumn after a hike of 14% in July.

Amid tumbling global oil prices, Britain's Utility Regulator, Iain Osborne, set up a price review last month and confirmed he would have good news for consumers before they hang up their stockings.

“We will make the announcement before Christmas, it is too early to say how much it will go down, but the wholesale market is quite sharply down. Costs have been hedged to a considerable degree and the price drop will not reflect the full fall in the price of crude oil. However, there is room for manoeuvre, he said.

The reduced price would be effective from early in the new year, he said. “If it is to be worth doing I think we need to get it to people in early January.”

However, Mr Osborne stressed: “Doing a review mid-way through the winter given the volatility in the market implies some uncertainty in this.

“But we have brought this forward because this is such a difficult winter for consumers – we are just trying to get what we can to people as soon as we can.”

Meanwhile what did the commission for energy rip off prices do here? Made a song and dance about not increasing electricity prices here, despite the fact that oil is now selling at $43 a barrel rather than the $147 it was selling last July.

jmayo

donegalfella wrote: »

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We may disagree on certain things, but I whole heartly agree that the influence of government or public sector entities (ESB, bord gas, corproate rates, water charges) here has helped drive costs and prices up.

We all probably agree that businesses have higher costs here, be they public utility costs or labour costs, but there are also examples of where Irish businesses be they retail or distributor have and are screwing us.
Newsagents, as I have pointed out previously, are screwing us royally on the importation of UK magazines (motoring, flying mags etc). Why did the prices not drop after euro/sterling exchange rates changes ?
This same principle seems to be used on the importation of electronics etc.
Why are items in All-Ireland based retailers upto 40% more expensive in the South ?

The idea of screwing the consumer became all pervasive.
It was done by the government, public sector bodies, professionals such as dentists/doctors/lawyers and the general retail sector did just the same.
It is now time these companies and people started to cop on and realise people are no longer so free with their money and at last we are starting to look at the cost of our purchases.

BTW you are local that you can walk the rest of us have to drive greater distances to avail of the competitive rates. You see there is a big advantage to living in Donegal after all

endplate wrote: »

I opened up my own business nearly 2 years ago. We're tied in with the social welfare and HSE so hopefully that will make us resonably recession proof. I never realised exactly how expensive it can be to run a business. In a lot of cases shops have to charge what they charge cos of the costs involved. The proceedures and protocals all cost money along with the cost of living is a major problem which is tied in with the minimum wage.

Now I'm delighted that so many people are going up the North as it shows this government what sort of a shower of incompetant buffoons they are. Did you see Lenihan doing his C Haughey impression last night on the news not good for his rep.

Costs need to be brought down now day to day stuff needs to be simplified, but instead the attitude from the Dail is lets bury our heads in the sand sure won't it go away.

This Government has supported the public sector for too long and has refused to promote small business and entrepreneurship now is the time to turn that around and get Ireland working again

HSE's spending is being curtailed, the money is going on wages didn't you know :rolleyes:
BTW check out the lovely HSE tender documents, they must have gangs of people working on them :rolleyes:
The amount of documentation that is now involved is ludricous and the government seem to be just generating more of it.

kleefarr

LostinBlanch wrote: »

Electricity prices to go down in the North, not here surprise surprise.


Meanwhile what did the commission for energy rip off prices do here? Made a song and dance about not increasing electricity prices here, despite the fact that oil is now selling at $43 a barrel rather than the $147 it was selling last July.

*Scratches head trying to think of a way to buy Gas and Electricity in the North and transport it down here*

Permabear

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cavedave

I just heard the Tanaiste on the radio saying (roughly)

We have to make sure that every penny we spend goes local

How is she going to be transported? Using locally sourced Irish oil?
This is not even remotely possible to only buy Irish goods. Say you buy Irish butter, where is the plastic packaging from?

How does someone think that all money you spend could stay in the Irish economy?