What items are consistently vastly overpriced in Ireland compared to UK

So because Apple and Google etc divert all their profits through Ireland to avoid paying taxes and grossly distort our GDP, we can’t buy paracetamol for the equivalent of £0.60 a packet?

Ireland has a different medical regulatory regime that means items like basic paracetamol are not available at cheap prices.

But the Brits would absolutely love to have all the prescription medicines for the family guaranteed not to cost more than €80 a month.

Interesting that there's little difference in price of brand name painkillers

What is consistently overpriced in Ireland v the UK?

Average Wage Ireland 2024 €45,000 v £ 34,900 So Labour is overpriced in Ireland v the UK

Unemployment Benefit € 232 v £ 90.50 So unemployed people are overpriced in Ireland v the UK

Pension Non Contributory € 266 - € 276 v £ 218.15 So non contributing pensioners are overpriced in Ireland v the UK

Pension Contributory. € 277.30 v £ 221.20. So Contributing pensioners are overpriced in Ireland v the UK

My takes, higher wages will equal higher costs to the employer which subsequently increases prices to the end consumer.

Unemployed people do a lot better here than the UK

Pensioners are only marginally better off than in the UK, considering the wage differential they are probably comparatively worse off.

Contributory pensioners in both are ripped off, there is no real return on the PRSI / social security payments v's those who have not paid in.

Fish and chips.

Got charged 30 euro for two fish and chips from a chip van in south Kerry last week, batter was soggy and saturated in oil.

I think it was £32 I paid in the UK a couple of months ago for 4 top quality fresh fish and chips, huge portions with light crispy batter.

You saw that on thick tok and pretend you experienced it.

I know the exact "van" that it was about - tell me what colour it was if you were really there?

Should be easy as it's quite striking

Brits possibly but in NI no cost for prescriptions.

You silly little boy, why would anyone pretend to be someone else that got overcharged for fish and chips?

The van is white with the surname of the owner written on a brown sign on top, there are two potted plants one on either side of it that you won't see in any online pictures. There's a huge birch tree that fell in a recent storm about 30 yards across from the hatch of the van at the edge of the parking area which is covered in grey hardcore.

The owners name is Kevin, not sure of the name of the lady that works with him but she is dark haired, thin and from eastern Europe.

A simple apology for your ridiculous false accusation will suffice.

so you have also been the person whining about it on thick tok?

boy- you really go over and beyond on the whining. Have you plastered it all over fakebook too?

and of course you are a food expert judging by your comments.

Hi JVince, I'm not looking for confrontation.

You accused me of plagiarism, I proved you wrong and asked for a simple apology.

I can only guess you're one of these guys that would prefer to not apologise when wrong because you think it makes you look weak and you are very invested in being perceived as an alpha figure of on boards.ie.

You made a mistake, we all make mistakes, let's move on, it's a lovely sunny Sunday.

Diabetics also get free medications here. And you may want to look at the topic of the thread.

Ireland has around 44% higher consumer costs than the EU average. The difference isn't just with the UK.

In the Uk, you can get generic Beclometasone (beconase) for 1/5th the cost of beconase here. But that's trivial compared to cars, which are easily the biggest rort thanks to VRT. A couple of years ago I looked at importing a roughly €26K car and VRT was going to make it near €50K.

It was absolutely disgusting that Charlie McCreevy ever got the job of European Commissioner for Internal Market and Services, given the efforts the Irish government goes to to insulate the populace from the EU consumer markets with protectionist measures like VRT and it's control of pharmaceuticals. We have the worst and lowest access to generic medicines in the EU. Irish pharmacists have the highest profit margins in the EU, surprise, surprise.

We can't even partake of ETFs for investment, like everyone in the rest of the world, because we have to have a special tax treatment specifically designed to prevent that.

It's a pitty when the EU talk of free market, they didn't include consumers in that.

No, that is a typical Irish government measure that adds unnecessary cost. When something is nonsensical, but just happens to increases the price, it's perfectly legitimate to wonder if the real reason isn't the cost increase.

A few years ago this country banned 5-Htp, St Johns Wort and a whole slew of other herbal medicines from being imported and sold in Ireland, things that were available in every other OECD country, I checked. All part and parcel of funneling Irish consumers to their local pharmacists massive markups, nothing whatsoever to do with the stated reasons of safety. They even had tax payer funded civil servants checking parcels, confiscating them and then sending condescending threatening letters to the addressee - I know, because I had my package stolen and got one of the shi​t faced letters instead. If you ever needed any evidence we have too many employed in the public sector wasting your taxes, that would be a good start.

Ireland does not have medical expertise superior to other developed nations, so arguing medical safety when every other developed country deems these things safe, is conceited bulldust.

Bill Bryson used to (half) joke that the way he would gauge the cost of living in any new location or country was he would go and look at the price of a Singapore Noodle in the Chinese Restaurant closest to the main train station.

Coca Cola always seems like a fun benchmark for me too. 2 Litres of Standard Coke in a supermarket:

Ireland: 4 euro Tesco

UK: 1.85gbp or about 2.15 euro also Tesco

Germany: 1.49 euro Edeka/Lidl last time I was there a couple weeks ago.

Gawd I'm in some bad form this morning 🙈

Noticed how 2L Coke bottles disappeared here (at the time €2.25/bottle) to be replaced by 1.75L bottles around the sugar tax introduction?

Then noticed how 1.75L Coke bottles disappeared here to be replaced by 2L bottles around the Re-Turn scheme introduction?

I'm absolutely convinced those were sly smoke-and-mirrors ways to sneak some price adjustments in. That and the frequent 2-for- and 3-for "offers".

I took pics of Coke on shelves in UK, Germany and France earlier in the year. Must dig them out.

Where I started doing comparison between prices in Ireland vs the UK was to visit a M&S Store.

I asked about the clothes, and they said, they are exactly the same, - what's on sale in the UK would be in Ireland.

However in Ireland the prices for the same clothes seem 10 to 20% higher, on average.

I've also noticed it with certain food products of M&S. Again Ireland is more expensive than in the UK.

Tesco UK vs Tesco Ireland, - not sure. Some items may be the same price, but overall Tesco Ireland would be more expensive.

Regading the Dove products mentioned here before, I do avoid them, in the UK as well as in Ireland. I've never liked the pH of a Dove soap, others are by far better. Maybe it's a female marketing thing, most female products are priced higher as oposed to those for men.

You could say the same about NI! Yet they generally get the same prices as London or Edinburgh

Telfast is about 13-14 euro here Vs half that everywhere else I assume also in the UK.

Vinegar 568ml is 65c IE 35p/42c UK

You are paying for the brand name there. M&S clothing has a good reputation

England

Seeing a doctor is free and the current prescription charge is £9.90 per item or you can avail of a prescription prepayment certificate

There are 3 PPC options:

• 3-months - £32.05 a
• 12-months - £114.50
• 12 month hormone replacement therapy - £19.80

Things like contraception and medicines prescribed for hospital inpatients and all prescriptions for U18s is 100% free

So if I need to see a doctor for a basic antibiotic it's a grand total of £9.90 to sort myself out

Well obviously if the antibiotics cost less than £9.90 that does make sense

Someone in Ireland who notices the price would not buy jocks in Marks and Spencers but would go to Dunnes, so there is not much incentive for them to bring prices down. Likewise a straightforward fleece or jacket would be half the price in Dunnes, and cheaper again in Primark.

Apart from the pound to euro exchange rate, there is added factor of different VAT rates such as some hygiene products being considered 'luxery' products in Ireland and taxed accordingly … or is that still the case?