Ireland second most expensive country in EU

babyducklings1

So a Eurostat survey shows that after Denmark we’re the most expensive country in the EU. Prices here are 42% higher than the EU average, while Denmark is at 43%. I suppose this shouldn’t really come as any great surprise to anyone. The only thing cheaper here than other countries is clothing according to this research.

The article below also points out while wages are higher they aren’t enough to cancel out the effects of the high costs for the average earner. Opinion also is that regulators could be doing more.

It doesn’t paint us as a very attractive place to live in light of affordability. Are we just paying too much for stuff?

https://m.independent.ie/business/personal-finance/ireland-now-second-most-expensive-eu-country-for-goods-and-services-with-prices-42pc-higher-than-average/a2030140398.html

Frank Bullitt

You were selective with the title of the thread I see.

babyducklings1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122285634#Comment_122285634

Fixed, added In EU.

Geuze

Yes, the price level is too high here, relative to wages.

Geuze

One reason is excessive commercial rents.

The case of Bewley's on Grafton street was in the news today.

4,000 rent per day!!

28,000 rent per week

The market rent should be 1/3 of what the actual rent is.

Geuze

Prime retail rents in Dublin in December 2018 were more than triple the rents charged in Edinburgh, Manchester and Leeds.

Even Galway city has higher retail rents than Manchester and Birmingham.

Commercial leases created before 2010 often contain clauses preventing the rent from falling, even if there is a recession, or the tenant is facing difficulties.

Geuze

Sudo-crem

A 400g tub of this nappy cream is for sale at £5.80 in the UK, equivalent to approx. €6.80, versus €11.89 for the same product for sale by the same supermarket chain in Ireland. That represents a 75% price premium.

Paracetamol

Own-brand paracetamol is for sale at 29 pence in UK supermarkets, equivalent to about 35 cent. Irish supermarkets sell branded paracetamol for at least €1.75?

Geuze

A visit to a GP is 26.50 in France, due to rise to 30 at the end of 2024.

babyducklings1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122285725#Comment_122285725

Yes cost of basic things like these. Also cost of toiletries, shower gels etc.

babyducklings1

Now we are also paying bottle deposits and though refundable anytime I go to a certain supermarket machine Is out of order. Anyway I’m off topic as there is a whole thread on that disaster.

Highlighter75

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122285727#Comment_122285727

Irish GPs are a disgrace. Caring profession my hole.

SharkMX

I pay a lot more of my wages in tax in Ireland than I did in either Germany or the UK.

I get a lot less for it too.

Geuze

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122286203#Comment_122286203

Are you sure?

PRSI is 4% here, but about 20% in DE.

Mr. teddywinkles

Also slipped down 2 places on the international competitiveness rankings.

We are fourth though

crusd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122286203#Comment_122286203

….

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122286203#Comment_122286203

You conveniently don't mention the hefty mandatory health insurance you'd have been paying in Germany… and yeah UK has low taxes, but a society that's falling apart. OK place to live in if you're rich.

migrant

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122285725#Comment_122285725

I wonder what else you and I have in common, Sudocrem and paracetamol are the same two products I often use when giving rip-off Ireland examples too.

Photobox

Yes in France at the moment, everything more or less cheaper in the supermarket. The same story in Spain last year and Germany the year before that. Ripped off is an understatement.

ToweringPerformance

Greed is the knife and the scars run deep.

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122286442#Comment_122286442

Lot's of countries are only good if you're rich these days.

The only real problem in Ireland is the excessive high cost of renting, - whatever the cause and explanation, it's still to high. Not too many places in a city the size of Dublin where one has to pay 1500 for just a room.

The rest is just the normal course of different cost of different counties.

I honestly don't care if Paracepamol is a bit more here and a bit less there, other things easily compensate that as well.

cmac2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122286803#Comment_122286803

"other things easily compensate that as well" - can you expand on that?

dasdog

I'm sure our Central Bank are watching closely and will be taking appropriate measures - they have a good track record with the "sound fundamentals" narrative.

https://www.centralbank.ie/consumer-hub/explainers/what-does-overheating-in-the-economy-mean#:~:text=The%20problem%20with%20overheating%20is,faster%20than%20they%20otherwise%20would.

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122286467#Comment_122286467

Is it because we are being shafted….!

Francis McM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122285727#Comment_122285727

And in the UK, a visit to the doctor is free of charge, under the NHS. Here our HSE is so bad half the population scrimp and save in other areas to have private health insurance like VHI. And even with that, we still pay €100 for visits to our overcrowded a&e.

When we buy a house, we have to pay the 13.5% vat that is included in the price. There is no vat on housing in the UK, which partly explains why housing is cheaper in N.I.

And as for VRT and taxes on cars….a lot of "ordinary" cars here now are 50 or 55 k, as we all know.

If the government reduced import taxes, and then vat form our standard rate of 23% to the UK rate of 20%, it would be a start in reducing prices here.

DellyBelly

Been incredible few weeks for the Irish in Europe…The athletics, Swimming gold last night and now a silver in the most expensive country in the EU…hopefully we can go 1 better for the next report…a few more price rises by supermarkets might get us over the line.

yagan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122286912#Comment_122286912

When I lived in England it was a struggle to get a doctors appointment at the clinic I was registered at. I was back in ireland on a weeks holiday so rang my old gp, got a walk in, paid my 50quid and had blood results back in a couple of days.

My wife with asthma had to pay for a private doctor in England to get an inhaler prescription as like me she couldn't get an appointment at the clinic we were registered at, and she was working in the NHS!!!

She made sure she was topped up whenever we were back in Ireland.

cnocbui

Ireland is a terrible place to be for an individual wanting to improve their lot via personal investments.

Buy a property to rent and you get hammered by the government from all sides. The government doesn't want private land lords and it makes that very clear.

Ok, property is terrible, how about ETF's? After 8 years you will have to pay tax on any notional gain in capital value, as if you had sold, even though you haven't. If when you do sell you happen to make a capital loss, you won't be getting anything back from the tax paid and the losses you do make can not be used to offset other capital gains, unlike every other form of investment. No other country has a tax rort like this.

So not only doesn't the government want you investing in property it doesn't want you investing in ETF's either.

Wind back the clock to when banks actually paid interest and you had DIRT tax on interest. I remember paying 47% DIRT when my marginal rate half that. Any other country I am familiar with just treats interest as income and it's taxed at your marginal rate.

Ireland has the highest level of death duties of any country and there are many clamouring for those to be raised too. CGT is also one of the highest rates in the OECD.

Another of my gripes would be the legal system that is an outrageously expensive mess. In Australia you can go cradle to grave without having to engage a lawyer. Here, buying or selling a property is way too expensive and slow a process.

crusd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122286912#Comment_122286912

You dont pay VAT on a second hand house. VAT is 13.5% on new build. in the UK its 20% on new build.

Part of the problem in addressing cost here is people believe all sorts of shite that's not true undermining efforts to address the actual issues

The 100euro A&E fee is tax deductible also, as are GP visits, prescriptions etc etc.

VRT is a big isssue with affordability but I would argue cars are in fact one of the areas that explain price issues for a different reason. They just keep adding features that cost lots of money that dont solve a problem anyone has or meet an unmet need. This is repeated across many areas where we pay additional cost on items for features we dont need or want.

Francis McM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122286941#Comment_122286941

People I know in the UK told me recently they find the NHS very good, are seen reasonably promptly and it is free. No need to pay a fortune each year in VHI or equivalent, and they are astonished a Doctor here charges €60 for a consultation, that is if they can visit at all. Many GP practices here remain closed to new patients. 

Francis McM

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122287004#Comment_122287004

I never said there additional VAT on a secondhand house, but there is vat on a new house here, and that is included in the price of the house if it is sold on. Nobody can claim it back. It helps keep the price of housing high.

As regards extras on cars, manufacturers across Europe are adding on extra stuff on cars the whole time. It used to be the case that cars in Ireland were poverty spec compared to cars in UK for example, to help offset the high VRT and other taxes here.

crusd

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122287042#Comment_122287042

You said there was no VAT in the UK which is a reason they are cheaper in the north wheras in fact its 20%. There is a refund scheme on self builds but they are only a fraction of the market. In the south many such projects qualify for grants.

ToweringPerformance

Can't find the link but there was an article yesterday about "affordable" housing in Tallaght that's just been completed i think it was 1000 euro a month for a 1 bedroom basically a bedsit up to 1500 for 3 bedrooms for rent. Something is very wrong with our country when this sort of stuff is championed as success in the fight for viable housing for working people.

Even small stuff like hayfever tablets and sprays i brought a backpack full of them back from London a few weeks ago for myself and family members should do for 2-3 years worth of supplies. 1.30 sterling for a pack of 30 compared to 8 euro here for a pack of 7 in the pharmacy. Nasal spray 3.50 sterling for 200 spray bottle compared to 9 euro for a 100 spray bottle here.

Emblematic

One of the problems I think in Ireland is that we tend regard ourselves as at the upper end of the disposable income scale in Europe. So when we see things like over-the-counter medicines being expensive here, we think "yes, but we're also a lot better off in terms of income".

Overall affordability can be measured. None of these measures are perfect but one way is to measure disposable household income per capita adjusted for purchasing power parity: how much does the average person have to spend relative to the cost of things in Ireland.

From 2001:

So we're a bit ahead of Portugal, Lithuania and Slovenia and a bit behind Italy and France. While this is not too bad, I would suspect that if you did a survey of people on the street, they would place Ireland up around the Netherlands and Germany in terms of disposable income.

What makes matters worse, though, is that it does not take into account the extreme housing problems we have in Ireland, which is likely to put a lot of people into hardship comparable to poorer countries.

Having said that, we're a long way from a third-world country. By the standards of most of the world Ireland is doing very well.

tfeldi

Yes, Ireland is on the more expensive side, but:

• UK: no child benefits if one of the parents earns over 60K. In Ireland you do get child benefits then. At 60K per year, you are far from rich.
• UK: Council tax is a lot more than the Property tax in many cases. Also Property tax is paid by the owner, not the resident of the property. Yes, you get a few more services from the Council tax, but I don't think think it makes up the difference.
• Compared to various other countries: No water charges in Ireland.

combat14

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122286189#Comment_122286189

you should try the helpful irish lawyers who are a law onto themselves with caring government vat on top

Hotblack Desiato

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122287004#Comment_122287004

There's always Dacia I suppose.

Even if I had the money and wanted to waste it on a new car, I wouldn't because nearly all of them have fúcking touchscreens.

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122286946#Comment_122286946

The problem is, in Ireland they track you every step of the way with the PPS number. And if you're absent for one year from your property in Ireland, you're to pay even more tax, called a vacant property tax. It's just another tax and certainly doesn't solve the crisis in the rental market

Ever since the country started to recover from the financial crisis of 2008, year after year the country became more and more unattractive.

Only foreign commercial investment seems to be of interest, US multinationals. But for an employee's or individual's point of view, Ireland is a straight no to me.

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122287071#Comment_122287071

The problem I see here is that an "affordable" property is often defined by governments and tied to your income. If you're below a certain annual income you're "entitled to qualify" as the saying goes, to apply for an affordable home. After all is paid, you're no better off than all the others.

Calling 1500 per month "affordable rent" is a lame joke of it's own. A politician or bureaucrat can however easily come up with such a regulation.

Geuze

VAT on new houses in the UK is zero, AFAIK.

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/buildings-and-construction-vat-notice-708

tinytobe

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122286832#Comment_122286832

Certainly. I personally find Irish supermarket sometimes cheaper than in other EU countries. This is especially true for Tesco.ie. ( Certainly not for the Irish SPAR shops where everything seems twice the price….)

The price for a taxi is remarkable cheap, like from the airport to Dublin city centre. I expected to pay 80 or 90 Euros for a ride in a "rip off city like Dublin with crazy rents", but in the end, the taxi ride was far far less that that.

Geuze

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122287071#Comment_122287071

Yes, OTC meds are very expensive here.

babyducklings1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122289022#Comment_122289022

Everything is very expensive here. I think people are actually fatigued by it or have lowered their expectations. There are always people who are doing well and that’s ok but the day to day costs can be enormous. Food, fuel, medicines, and these are basic things.

babyducklings1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122287071#Comment_122287071

Yes big difference in price and yet these are basic things which people need.

Charles Babbage

I don't know why the government does not show some interest in this. If prices were only one third over the EU average then we'd all be significantly better off and that should be achievable. Mind you, I bought 24 Paracetamol in a pharmacy this week for €1.50, so it is not clear why supermarkets charge so much.

lalababa

The average industrial wage for 2024 is 38,000. 33,000 after taxes.

The highest mortgage you'd get is 150,000. The average home cost in for example Co. Cork is 280,000.

35 years ago a man on his own (working in industry) could afford a family and a mortgage . Now you have quite frequently both parents working full time and struggling.

We are supposed to be evolving as a society but in alot of parameters we are going backwards.

The big expenses which should really be cheaper are rent/housing, motoring, health insurance.

You can buy a 3 bed turnkey new house in rural France for 100,000.

There's something wrong somewhere with the cost to build here.

Mr. teddywinkles

Deleted

SpoonyMcSpoon

Terrible health service; awful infrastructure for public transport, walking and cycling; housing supply non-existent (at least in other countries where housing is expensive there is generally a lot more options); education system two-tiered (private schools even get public funding on top of private school fees!); yet tax is quite high and it is difficult to see where the money is going. I can see why Ireland is expensive but it is also terrible value for how expensive it is.

Geuze

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122289931#Comment_122289931

No such thing as AIW anymore.

Where are you getting stats from? Please provide the exact source.

Here are average earnings data:

Geuze

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122289931#Comment_122289931

This wage data is false.

Average weekly earnings in industry are over 1,100 per week, or over 52k per year.

Geuze

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122289815#Comment_122289815

I agree 100%.

You'd think it might be an easy way to get more votes.

Geuze

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122289991#Comment_122289991

Outcomes in healthcare are not "terrible". The waiting times are bad, yes.

All primary schools are private (well 99% of them), and all receive State funding.

Yes, the value is poor.