Pharmaceutical products cost more in Ireland than in most EU states.
Pharmaceutical prices are 19 per cent higher than the EU average in the Republic, with only Denmark and Germany proving more expensive places to buy medicines. Poland and Lithuania are the two cheapest EU member states for pharmaceuticals.
New figures published by the European statistics agency Eurostat found Ireland was ranked the third most expensive country for buying drugs.
The study compares the full market price for 181 different pharmaceutical products in November 2005 in 33 countries. This includes the price paid by a consumer and the portion of the full market price paid by the Government. This means the price levels do not reflect the total that households pay but rather the prices pharmaceutical firms charge for drugs supplied to the Republic.
Expenditure on pharmaceutical products accounts for 1.5 per cent of gross domestic product on average within the EU. Outside the EU, Switzerland and Iceland pay much more for drugs, 87 per cent and 60 per cent respectively, than all other Europeans.
In a separate survey Ireland ranked joint top of the EU price league for furniture costs. The research revealed that the cost of furniture in Ireland, Britain and Italy is the EU's most expensive.
Prices are 15 per cent higher than the EU average in all three states, says Eurostat.The furniture survey covered 140 products, including kitchen, living and dining room and bedroom furniture.
The cheapest places to buy furniture are Romania, Latvia and Bulgaria. The survey notes that small island economies seem to stand out with a "high comparative price level", in particular.
This may be due to the fact that these countries have a small domestic market, and correspondingly high import costs.