‘Stop the Profiteering’ protest in city centre

A Cork TD has appealed to the public to come out to support this afternoon’s city centre Cork Cost of Living Campaign protest.

Today’s rally, which will assemble at 2pm on the Grand Parade, is the third such protest, coming after September’s march, which saw some 7,500 people take to the streets to protest the soaring cost of living in the country.

The latest protest comes in the wake of a Central Statistics Office(CSO) report which showed inflation continuing to rise.

The CSO report showed increases over the last year, with gas prices up 93.3%, electricity up 71.2%, milk up 25.4%, butter up 19.3%, and eggs up 17.7%.

This week also saw Bank of Ireland increasing their mortgage interest rates for new customers, and also an increase in the wholesale price of Heineken products, which is expected to lead to 25 cent increases in the price of a pint of Murphy’s and Heineken for consumers.

Socialist Party TD Mick Barry said the theme of the latest rally would be “Stop the Profiteering” and he called upon the Government to intervene.

“Earlier this year the Government used the Consumer Protection Act to fix minimum prices for alcohol,” the Cork North Central TD said.

“They need to use the same legislation now to fix maximum prices for the likes of milk, butter, and eggs.