A leading economist has said there is "strong evidence" that some retailers have used the euro changeover to push through price hikes and are ripping off Irish consumers.
Friends First chief economist Mr Jim Power said "actual price data" supported the view that some retailers had used the changeover to raise prices.
Speaking at the promotion of the company’s "Outlook for the Irish Economy 2002", Mr Power, said: "The watching brief promised by consumer watchdog agencies and Government has proved quite ineffective".
On the outlook for the economy as a whole he said Friends First had upgraded its GDP forecast from 3 per cent last November to 4 per cent. He said that growth of 6.7 per cent last year was a "credible performance in the circumstances".
He said that benchmarking and social partnership were questionable in the economic climate.
Mr Power rejected the need for another social partnership deal and warned that any new agreement reached should not contain a rigid wage setting element.
Rather than continually warning about the dangers of inflation and high wage settlements organisations such as IBEC should look at the pricing behaviour of their own members, he said.
Mr Power said: "It is clear that inflation is becoming ingrained in certain areas of the Irish economy, particularly those where competition is not as intense as it might be, such as in certain categories of the services sector.
"These inherent inflationary tendencies will continue to push wages higher and undermine internal and external competitiveness," he said.
Mr Power predicted that property prices could rise by up to 8 per cent in 2002. "The price increase will be particularly evident in the lower end of the market, where demand from first-time buyers and investors will remain strong, thanks to the 2002 budget," he said.
"The housing market is now secure, negative equity has disappeared as a threat, but house price inflation over the next five years is likely to be less than half that seen over the past five years," he said.
Commenting on the possibility of a merger between AIB and Bank of Ireland, Friends First group chief executive Mr Adrian Hegarty said the move would be good for competition in the banking sector.
He said both banks were not really competing with each other in the market and both institutions had demonstrated a certain level of complacency as a result of their respective dominant market positions.
