Dubliners are paying up to 41 per cent more for common services such as hairdressing, according to the latest comparison of prices in the capital and the rest of the State by the Central Statistics Office.
Two-thirds of the food items and services surveyed by the CSO were dearer in Dublin, and the average price difference was 4.3 per cent, but most of this was accounted for by variations in alcohol prices.
Dublin Chamber of Commerce said the difference in prices was "negligible" once pub prices were removed and claimed Dublin prices would be lower if department stores were included in the survey.
Of the 79 items included in the analysis, average prices were higher in Dublin for 62 items, lower for 26 items while one item had the same price.
Meat, fish, fruit and vegetables were all more expensive in the capital than the rest of the country, but there was little difference in the price of petrol or tobacco.
Alcohol consumed in pubs was significantly dearer in Dublin, but there was little variation in the price of take-home sales.
The prices were checked last month, six months after a previous survey showed an average price gap of 4.4 per cent.
All 10 fruit and vegetable items were more expensive in Dublin in November. Grapes were 17.5 per cent dearer, 2.5 kg bags of potatoes cost 12.8 per cent more and broccoli cost 7.2 per cent more.
Seven of the 18 meat products cost more in the capital, with back rashers 21.4 per cent higher. Medium uncooked chickens were 12.9 per cent cheaper in Dublin.
Of the remaining food and drink staples, including butter, eggs, flour, sugar, tea and preserves, nine of the items were cheaper in Dublin; a white sliced pan, for example, cost 6.9 per cent less than in the rest of the country.
Alcohol consumed on a licensed premises was on average 6 per cent more expensive in Dublin; the difference for a half-pint of lager was 13.9 per cent.
When alcoholic items were excluded from the list compiled by the CSO, the average price difference was just 1.4 per cent.
Some of the biggest differences were found in the cost of services. A gent's wash, cut and blow-dry cost 41.7 per cent more in Dublin, while the price gap for ladies was 18 per cent. Cinema tickets were 11.1 per cent higher in Dublin.
Flour, plaice, lamb, ham, tea bags, milk and pork were all cheaper in Dublin.
Although prices are generally higher in the capital, competition is also more intense, it would appear; the gap between the five highest quotes and the lowest five was almost 73 per cent in Dublin; outside the city, it was almost 125 per cent.
Aebhric McGibney, policy director of the Dublin Chamber of Commerce said the latest CSO figures show broadly the same price differential between Dublin and the rest of the country since the survey began in 2004.
"The gap in prices is a product of both the higher business costs faced in Dublin and the narrow scope of the survey, covering just 21 per cent of a typical shopping basket."
Mr McGibney said the smaller gap between the lowest and highest prices in Dublin showed that the competition for business in the city was more intense.
"We feel that if clothing and household goods - the products that people buy in department stores - both in and around the city - were to be included, Dublin prices would be significantly lower."
