A major survey of Irish food prices over the last 31 years claims Irish consumers are getting value for money from the Common Agricultural Policy (Cap), and enjoying the lowest percentage spend on food in Europe.
The survey, published yesterday, found that the amount of time spent working at the average industrial wage in 1973 to buy a kilo of round steak was one hour 50 minutes, compared to 37 minutes of work-time to purchase it this year.
The survey was published by Agri Aware, which promotes the Irish agriculture sector.
Using CSO and Eurostat data on a range of staple food items since Ireland joined the EU, the survey found that in the 30 years from 1973 to 2003 there was a significant decline in the household consumer spend on food.
It had fallen from a high of over 30 per cent in 1973 to just 6 per cent in 2003, the lowest in the EU.
The conclusion was that consumers on the average industrial wage now needed to work almost six hours less than in 1973 to purchase the 11 items surveyed.
In 1973 a worker needed to clock up two hours and 28 minutes to buy a kilo of cooked ham. Today that worker need only spend one hour four minutes.
It took 55 minutes of work to buy 10kg of potatoes in 1973. Now it takes 24 minutes.
The time worked to buy a litre of milk has dropped from seven minutes to three, and the 10 minutes required to buy an 800g sliced pan has dropped to two minutes.
Agri Aware chairman TJ Maher said it was clear from the survey that the Irish consumer had benefited as a direct result of Cap payments.
"The productivity of Irish farmers has quadrupled since 1973," he said.
"Our Irish farmers are now some of the most efficient in the world, producing a wide variety of reasonably priced food products for consumers.
"As a result of Cap spending now being fixed, Irish consumers will continue to benefit,"Mr Maher said.