Why are Irish supermarket prices still so high? Here’s why €100 feels like the new €20 when you’re doing the shopping
Those three items that cost €13.24 this week cost less than half that price – just €5.84 – 15 years ago. “What I find most infuriating with grocery shopping now is the variance in price from week to week of staples. Higher energy costs, wages, climate change and geopolitical uncertainty along with the continuing war in Ukraine are all going to keep pushing prices higher. There are inefficiencies in the market that are leading to higher prices,” he says. There might be small reversal of the hikes but anyone expecting cheap energy prices in the next year or so or for prices to return to normal is going to be disappointed,” he says.
Source:The Irish Times
December 06, 2025 15:00 UTC
I’m dreaming of a mild and slightly damp Christmas, just like the ones we know
Winter Things is one of those Christmas songs that is conscious of its delusions. I don’t want to tempt fate, but there hasn’t been a white Christmas in Ireland since 2010. Still, as the planet heats up, and real-life memories of a white Christmas melt away, those snowy mid-century American perennials will only sound increasingly incongruous to chalet-deprived ears. “We can be wherever if we visualise,” a loved-up Grande suggests on Winter Things. We’ll be dreaming of a mild and slightly damp Christmas, just like the ones we used to know.
Source:The Irish Times
December 06, 2025 14:53 UTC
Ireland Stock Market Weekly Review: ISEQ Slips as Banks Drag While Kingspan and Ryanair Stand Out (1–6 December 2025)
The ISEQ Financial Index dropped from 691.91 on Monday to 678.27 on Friday, a fall of almost 2% across the week and more than 1.1% compared with the previous Friday. [22]In Dublin, the ISEQ index “was modestly lower”, dipping by less than 0.1% and extending its losing streak to two sessions, despite broad risk‑on sentiment abroad. [24]fell to , making Irish banks one of the week’s weakest segments and dragging the ISEQ Financial sub‑index to an almost 2% decline between Monday and Friday. Domestic growth vs. external shocks Ireland’s domestic economy continues to show strong underlying momentum , with robust PMIs, solid employment and upgraded MDD growth forecasts. References1. www.investing.com, 2. www.investing.com, 3. www.investing.com, 4. live.euronext.com, 5. www.investing.com, 6. www.investing.com, 7. www.irishtimes.com, 8. www.irishtimes.com, 9. www.irishtimes.com, 10. www.irishtimes.com, 11. www.irishtimes.com, 12. www.irishtimes.com, 13. www.irishtimes.com, 14. www.irishtimes.com, 15. www.irishtimes.com, 16. www.irishtimes.com, 17. www.irishtimes.com, 18. www.irishtimes.com, 19. www.irishtimes.com, 20. www.irishtimes.com, 21. www.irishtimes.com, 22. www.irishtimes.com, 23. www.irishtimes.com, 24. www.irishtimes.com, 25. www.irishtimes.com, 26. www.irishtimes.com, 27. www.reuters.com, 28. www.pmi.spglobal.com, 29. www.vtmarkets.com, 30. www.reuters.com, 31. www.reuters.com, 32. www.reuters.com, 33. www.cso.ie, 34. www.cso.ie, 35. www.cso.ie, 36. www.davy.ie, 37. www.davy.ie, 38. www.centralbank.ie, 39. www.centralbank.ie, 40. www.investing.com, 41. www.irishtimes.com, 42. www.irishtimes.com, 43. www.irishtimes.com, 44. www.reuters.com, 45. www.centralbank.ie, 46. www.irishtimes.com, 47. www.irishtimes.com, 48. www.irishtimes.com, 49. www.irishtimes.com, 50. www.reuters.com, 51. www.reuters.com, 52. www.investing.com, 53. www.sharesmagazine.co.uk, 54. www.irishtimes.com, 55. www.reuters.com, 56. www.reuters.com, 57. countryeconomy.com, 58. www.centralbank.ie, 59. www.irishtimes.com, 60. www.irishtimes.com
Source:The Irish Times
December 06, 2025 14:13 UTC
‘I collapse in a heap on Christmas Eve’: Meet the foodmakers behind some Irish festive favourites
We are fairly busy until Christmas week with production and the market, and keeping the supermarket shelves full. We made our first batch of Young Buck in October 2013 and sold it on 1st April, 2014. But our customers are buying for taste, and Young Buck is very decadent, so people love it at Christmas. We’re big believers in a smaller number of cheeses on your Christmas cheese board with bigger pieces of cheese. I collapse in a heap on Christmas Eve, exhausted, so I am fit for very little for a couple of weeks afterwards.
Source:The Irish Times
December 06, 2025 14:03 UTC
It’s time to sound the alarm on growing fiscal and financial risk
It has expressed concern over fiscal and financial risks for some time. This is part of a bigger change, which is the relative decline of banks and rise of non-bank financial intermediaries within global holdings of financial assets. Non-bank financial intermediaries are a heterogeneous group. In addition, there is concern about the risk-bearing capacity of – and balance-sheet constraints on – non-bank financial intermediaries. Some suggest, wrongly, that the answer is to let banks replace non-bank financial intermediaries yet again.
Source:The Irish Times
December 06, 2025 14:00 UTC
Ireland to face Mexico, South Korea and South Africa if they qualify for World Cup
The completed groups after the 2026 Fifa World Cup draw, which took place in Washington on Friday. Photograph: Sam Corum/PA WireThe Republic of Ireland will feature in Group A of the 2026 World Cup, along with South Korea, South Africa and co-hosts Mexico, if they qualify via the play-offs next March. The Azteca hosted the 1970 World Cup final, when Brazil beat Italy 4-1, as well as the 1986 decider when Argentina beat West Germany 3-2. The opening game of the tournament is between Mexico and South Africa at the Azteca on June 11th. “This is exactly what you want having worked so hard to get to a World Cup.
Source:The Irish Times
December 06, 2025 13:51 UTC
Senior gardaí express annoyance over Defence Forces’ response to rogue drones during Zelenskiy visit
Senior gardaí have questioned the Defence Forces’ handling of the security incident in the skies off Dublin on Monday night around the time the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s aircraft arrived for a State visit to Ireland. Senior gardaí are annoyed at what one source termed the “weak” response from the Defence Forces, which had the LÉ William Butler Yeats in the area at the time as part of the State security operation for Mr Zelenskiy’s visit. Garda Headquarters said its special detective unit (SDU) was leading the investigation into the events of Monday night, aided by the Defence Forces and international partners. It made no reference to how the Defence Forces had handled the incident. One source believed Mr Zelenskiy’s aircraft had landed in Dublin before the incident in the skies out to sea began to unfold.
Source:The Irish Times
December 06, 2025 12:01 UTC
Inside Fianna Fáil: How grassroots members feel about Micheál Martin amid shambolic presidential campaign
Taoiseach and leader of Fianna Fáil Micheál Martin launching the Accelerating Infrastructure action plan at Government Buildings on Wednesday. Almost all agreed they cannot see Martin leading Fianna Fáil into the next general election. Micheál Martin with Fianna Fáil TDs at the launch of the party's presidential campaign in September. Photograph: Dan DennisonGary Murphy, politics professor at DCU, is the biographer of former Fianna Fáil leader Charles Haughey, who survived multiple heaves and crises. He says he heard serious internal disquiet over the fiasco in the immediate aftermath of the presidential election.
Source:The Irish Times
December 06, 2025 12:01 UTC
All-Ireland winner George O’Connor on finding mental wellness after ‘years of pure hell’
In the St Martin’s clubhouse there is a giant mural on the wall, a vivid tableau of local landmarks and wildlife and bloodstock and flowers and hurlers and footballers. St Martin’s won the county final, and he stayed until their interest in the Leinster championship had ended. Players survived it but it was too tough.”In his career St Martin’s lost two senior finals. In 1999, when St Martin’s won their first Wexford title, they approached him before the semi-final to come out of retirement, but his “heart wasn’t in it”. George O’Connor with St Martin's players Michael Coleman and Joe Barrett after the win over Na Fianna in this year's Leinster quarter-final.
Source:The Irish Times
December 06, 2025 12:01 UTC
Ireland is brilliant at identifying problems and terrible at solving them – The Irish Times
Metrolink: The project's programme director Sean Sweeney recently told an Oireachtas committee Ireland does not have enough workers to build it. The Construction Industry Federation insists we have plenty of workers; the problem is pipeline, planning, funding. Then the MetroLink director tells an Oireachtas committee that Irish construction fundamentally cannot support this project. The Metro North cancellation is our Rosetta Stone for understanding Irish infrastructure dysfunction. The problem for Ireland is that we have too many professional problem-identifiers, and too few professional problem-solvers.
Source:The Irish Times
December 06, 2025 11:34 UTC
A drunk decanter set for Christmas? Quaint finds in Dublin’s antiques quarter
Although only a 15-minute walk from St Stephen’s Green, the atmosphere on Francis Street is a world apart. Martin Fennelly points to the amethyst-coloured glass “Drunk” decanter set (€1,100) made by Austrian artist Koloman Moser, as one of the more unusual decanter sets in his shop. An early 20th century porcelain footbath (€395), on sale in The Collector's Corner, Francis Street, Dublin, would make a stylish planter. Mervyn Blanc, who runs Yeats Country Antiques on Francis Street, and in Drumcliffe, Sligo, specialises in Victorian gilded over-mantle mirrors and console tables. Finally, Sheppard’s Irish Auction House in Durrow, Co Laois, is the last of the auction rooms to host a pre-Christmas Irish and International Art auction.
Source:The Irish Times
December 06, 2025 06:31 UTC
Netflix’s purchase of Warner Bros is an enormous moment for the cinema age
But it feels like an enormous moment in both the past and future of the cinema age. Warner Bros has, since it was dreamed up by four Polish-American brothers in 1927, been a vital element of the United States ascension to superpower in the Twentieth Century. With the acquisition of Warner Bros, Netflix will have access to a century of extraordinary film-making, from the first ever talkie, The Jazz Singer (1927), through to the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings series. The Warner Bros studio, in Burbank, offers tours for the dwindling number of tourists still enchanted by the history and make-believe of cinema. And the deal has far-reaching implications: Netflix is simply after Warner’s Bros and its streaming branch, HBO.
Source:The Irish Times
December 06, 2025 06:26 UTC
Ann Fuller obituary: Major figure in classical music scene with a can-do attitude
Ann Fuller: Tempestuous, opinionated and a force of nature, she is remembered by family and friends as a larger-than-life characterBorn: February 4th, 1937Died: : October 2nd, 2025Ann Fuller, who has died aged 88, was a major figure in Ireland’s classical music scene and a cofounder of the Dublin International Piano Competition. She was born Ann Patricia Mahon and grew up on Eglington Park in Donnybrook on Dublin’s southside. Her mother Moira was a strong advocate of animal rights and helped establish the Blue Cross animal welfare organisation in Ireland. Ann returned to Ireland and lived initially in Rathgar and then Sandymount, her home for almost the entirety of the rest of her life. At a bridge party (another of Ann’s passions), the pianist mused about setting up an international piano competition.
Source:The Irish Times
December 06, 2025 06:12 UTC
Nesting author Roisín O’Donnell: ‘At points I lost my nerve - nobody wants to read a book about coercive control’
I finally feel I understand.”Over coffee in a hotel in Blanchardstown, O’Donnell explains how it felt to receive that email. During that time, Nesting, her debut novel, has been quietly changing her horizons. I just had to know what was going to happen, if these characters would be okay.”Author Roisín O'Donnell. When it was broadcast in 2021, read by Siobhán McSweeney, O’Donnell realised she wasn’t finished with the tale. “Soon after Nesting was published, I needed to go to the local Eason to sign some stock.
Source:The Irish Times
December 06, 2025 06:11 UTC