Fry-up farce: Cost of Irish breakfast soars as food staples hit by price rises

Tomas Doherty

The cost of cooking a full Irish breakfast this weekend might be hard to swallow as rampant food inflation hits staples like milk and butter.

Breakfast foods are on average 14.5 per cent more expensive compared to a year ago, according to a breakingnews.ie analysis of Central Statistics Office data.

Milk prices have jumped by 30.6 per cent, butter is 22.9 per cent more expensive, while eggs rose 22.3 per cent. Bread is up 16.7 per cent compared to January 2022.

The analysis also shows that buying the key ingredients for an Irish fry-up will set shoppers back €34.25, up from €30.35 in January last year.

The price of brown sliced pan bread is up 26 cent to €1.88, two litres of milk is 53 cent more expensive and a pound of butter now costs €3.83 on average, up 73 cent.

Back bacon is priced at €10.65/kg, up from €9.30 a year ago, while pork sausages cost €6.94/kg, up 74 cents. A half-dozen large eggs cost €2.16 on average in January, compared to €1.78 a year ago.

The continuing squeeze on household budgets comes as a series of existing cost-of-living measures are due to fall away at the end of the month.

These include the energy credit scheme for households, a reduced 9 per cent VAT rate on hospitality, electricity and gas, and the Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme.

Excise is also due to go up on petrol and diesel.

The Government has said it wants to avoid a “cliff-edge” scenario and has signalled an intent to extend some measures and introduce other mitigations.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said the new measures will be confirmed following a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

For the latest updates on the cost-of-living crisis, check out the breakingnews.ie data tracker