An overwhelming majority of voters believe they are being ripped off on prices in Ireland with petrol/diesel, household fuels and groceries seen as the worst offenders, according to the latest Irish Times/TNS mrbi opinion poll.
Some 93 per cent of voters believe they are being ripped off on prices, 5 per cent that they are not and 2 per cent don't know. The poll was conducted last Monday and Tuesday among a national quota sample of 1,000 voters at 100 sampling points throughout all constituencies in the State.
The perception that consumers are being ripped off is generally evenly spread throughout age groups, regions, social classes and party supporters.
The majority believing they are ripped off is slightly smaller among farmers, Fianna Fáil voters, people in Connacht/Ulster and those aged over 65, but the deviation from the average is modest.
Petrol and diesel, household fuels and groceries were named by the largest number of voters as areas in which they believed they were being ripped off the most.
Voters were asked to name the two or three areas in which they felt they were being ripped off the most. Petrol/diesel was named by 47 per cent. Electricity, gas and other household fuels was named by 41 per cent and household groceries by 40 per cent.
The percentages naming other areas as the ones in which they felt the most ripped off were: health services, 31 per cent; pubs, 23 per cent; other household utility bills, 21 per cent; clothing and footwear, 20 per cent; restaurants, 20 per cent; childcare, 20 per cent; education, 14 per cent; electrical goods and appliances, 9 per cent; leisure/ entertainment, 9 per cent; public transport, 5 per cent; and other, 6 per cent.
There are some notable regional disparities in the figures. Some 33 per cent of Dublin voters named pubs as an area in which they were being ripped off compared to just 14 per cent in the rest of Leinster, 19 per cent in Connacht/Ulster and 26 per cent in Munster. The proportion naming pubs goes down steadily with age, with 37 per cent of those aged 18-24 naming them as offenders, 30 per cent of the 25-34 age group and 20 per cent of those aged 35-49.
Meanwhile, voters are almost evenly divided over whether the three men convicted of training Farc terrorists should be made to serve the 17-year sentences imposed on them in Colombia or should instead remain in Ireland, possibly to be investigated and charged.