ValueIreland.com

In the past, I’ve put a couple of Brian Lenihans speeches through Wordle - here and here. Here’s the Wordle (*) of the speech that Brian Cowen gave during December when he launched the governments master plan to get the country through the recession - “Building Ireland’s Smart Economy: A Framework for Sustainable Economic Renewal”.

(*) Slightly Amended.

We’ve all seen the increased popularity of shoppers from the south of Ireland heading north to shop in Newry. We’ve seen a big increase in people using Google to hit this site looking for information on shopping in Newry.

Here’s the Google Trends graph of Irish people searching Google for “Newry” in 2008:

ValueIreland.com notes that Maurice Pratt was yesterday nominated by the Tourism Minister Martin Cullen to chair the new 10-member Tourism Renewal Group. Another quango, or committee, to give the impression that something is being done without actually doing anything?

In typical Fianna Fail fashion, this new group was set up upon the recommendation of another groups report - the Tourism Strategy Implementation Group.

According to Minister Cullens statement, this Tourism Renewal Group will:

… examine the current tourism policy and programme priorities, with a focus on the challenges, and will set out a framework for action to assist in ensuring that tourism continues to be a major industry for Ireland.

It is hoped that Mr. Pratt can repeat the success in his new position that he had in his former position as Chief Executive of C&C.  It is thought that Mr. Pratt intends to follow a similar strategy as his C&C days to achieve this aim - including the sale of the Cliffs of Moher to the Netherlands to improve their dykes and sea defences, as well as the disposal of the Ring of Kerry, the Wicklow Mountains and the River Shannon. On a positive note, it is believed that Mr. Pratt will also sell off the Temple Bar area to a British Hen & Stag provider so that it can be rebuilt in the UK to save on transport costs.

By the time Mr. Pratt and his group have completed their work, similar to his success with C&C it is planned that the value of Irish tourism to the economy will be reduced by 90%, from the current €6.5bn to €0.65bn.

I noticed recently that the Irish Times Magazine feature “Two under €10″ wine review guide has had to move with the times to become “Two under €12″.

Maybe they should start getting their samples in Newry?

This was sent to me last week. I can’t find a definitive reference that the statement is actually accurate, but I thought it was amusing, particularly in the context of the Buy Irish discussions recently here on ValueIreland.com, and the recent campaign launched by various different local interests.

Legendary economist Dr. Marc Faber concluded his monthly bulletin (June 2008) with this:

“The federal government is sending each of us a $600 rebate. If we spend that money at Wal-Mart, the money goes to China. If we spend it on gasoline it goes to the Arabs. If we buy a computer it will go to India.

If we purchase fruit and vegetables it will go to Mexico, Honduras and Guatemala. If we purchase a good car it will go to Germany. If we purchase useless crap it will go to Taiwan and none of it will help the American economy. The only way to keep that money here at home is to spend it on prostitutes and beer, since these are the only products still produced in the US. I’ve been doing my part.”

I read with interest this piece from Conor Pope in Pricewatch on Monday morning regarding one of his readers observations about the dual-pricing that we experience in many stores at the moment.

A reader by the name of Helen was shopping in Wallis recently when she noticed they had torn off the sterling price, which had been attached to the price tags on the clothes along with the euro price - not the only shop operating in both the Republic of Ireland and the UK that has adopted such a policy in recent months.

“We all know that we are being ripped off in the Republic - the mark up between the sterling price and the euro price is blatantly obvious, even though the euro-sterling exchange rate has been trading consistently at around €0.78 for the past year. By tearing off the sterling price, does Wallis think that we won’t notice we are being ripped off?”

I was in a Boots store on Sunday where I saw a different perspective to this euro/sterling dual-pricing problem.

There was a small kid in the queue in front of me with some sort of Christmas present for his mother. He had his change counted out, and re-counted it a couple of times before he got to the top of the queue.

When he got to the cashier, he popped the gift on the counter, and unloaded his bundle of change for the cashier.

The cashier smiled at him, scanned the item, and asked him for €10.

“But it’s €8 on the label, I checked it myself” said the little lad, visibly gutted.

“No, it’s £8 I’m afraid. So that’s €10″ said the cashier.

I don’t think we’re teaching our 6 and 7 year olds about dual-priced labels and exchange rates, are we?

You’ll have read last week of my resignation as director from the executive and council (essentially the board) of the Consumers Association of Ireland. On Saturday, Paul Cullen wrote about this in The Irish Times - Consumers’ group members resign.If you check out this link here, you can see some of the comments and reaction from Irish Times and ValueIreland.com readers to that piece.

It was touched upon in that article, and I referred to the two reasons for my resigning in my original post. Here are the details I provided to my fellow council members:

Firstly, apart from producing the monthly Consumer Choice magazine, the CAI has remained entirely reactive and has not presented any new or original initiatives to the Irish consumer in the past two years. The Irish consumer still does not know what the CAI is about despite my attempts while on Council to initiate activities that might have changed that perception.

Secondly, and of greater concern, is the worrying level of secrecy that appears to exist within the Association. While many directors and council members profess trust in the limited amount of information provided to them, that trust is not actually sufficient to allow a director fulfil their duties, and it is not enough for me to be happy being a director.

It was disappointing for me to have to resign from the Association, but I felt that despite my efforts the Association was going nowhere and wasn’t spending it’s money in the best way possible to be of assistance and benefit to Irish consumers.

I’m not familiar with how property managers and estate agents handle a property where a deal has just been completed, but from experience, you’re more likely to see a big fat “SOLD” or “SALE AGREED” or “LET BY” to show that the deal’s been done.

You won’t see a “For Details contact HWBC” and then a “To Let” feature on the estate agents website. This appears to be the case for 114 Grafton Street where we were told back in September that American Apparel were to open a new store - and before Christmas at that.

Passing there one evening this week after work, the place is empty with the “contact us” stickers on the doors.

I wonder have the plans of American Apparel fallen foul of the “current economic climate”?

There was an interesting letter in the Irish Times last Friday. It proposes what could be a useful compromise for Irish consumers who are seeking the best value possible, while still supporting Irish businesses.

Given the discussions on ValueIreland.com recently about Buying Irish, for those that can travel to Newry, or presumably Enniskillen or Derry as well, this might keep everyone happy:

‘Patriotic’ partitionism?

Madam, - Fiona McCann’s article “Your country needs you (to spend, spend, spend” (Weekend Review November 8th) proves beyond doubt that patriotism is the last refuge of the grocer.

As a Newry resident it galls me to read of politicians and business people trying to make citizens of the Republic guilty about shopping in Northern Ireland. In particular, Newry is singled out several times as an occasion of retail sin for southern shoppers.

It needs to be pointed out that partition separated Newry from a large part of its natural hinterland in Louth and Monaghan. This led to a decline which eventually saw unemployment of around 30 per cent in the town and district. If, at the moment, price differentials are encouraging southern shoppers to spend their money in Newry, perhaps southern retailers should examine their pricing policy.

You can buy Irish butter, Irish cheese, Irish bacon and indeed Irish whiskey in Newry just as in Dublin - the only difference being that these products are a lot cheaper in Newry than south of the Border. Why, exactly, are southern shoppers being “patriotic” by paying a southern grocer over the odds for Irish butter or whiskey in Dublin when they can pay a fair price for the same product in Newry? How exactly do you save “Irish” jobs by allowing a southern retailer to make an exorbitant profit on a bottle of Irish gin?

Indeed, the lower prices charged in Newry for “Irish” products probably means that more of these products are sold and more jobs created in “Ireland” (wherever that is). No person on this island should have the slightest guilt about shopping in any town in their own country. An attempt to encourage a boycott of Northern retail outlets would only encourage the present exploitation of southern consumers at a time when they are most vulnerable. - Yours, etc,

NIALL VALLELY,
Dublin Road,
Newry,
Co Down.

As a matter of interest actually, has anyone been caught unawares by their “civic patriotism” and found themselves spending uncontrollably around the streets of Dublin? Have the early Christmas lights and trees tricked you into doing your Christmas shopping earlier?

Last weekend, I delivered my letter of resignation from the Executive and Council of the Consumers Association of Ireland to the Chairman (James Doorley), Chief Executive (Dermott Jewell) and to my fellow Council members.

In my letter of resignation, I communicated my two key reasons for leaving which I will return to here in a future post.

Update 1: Since I originally composed this post, two more directors have resigned from the Consumers Association of Ireland. That’s 20% of the Associations Council (or one third of the Executive) resigning before even the first Coucil meeting of the new term.

Update 2: Paul Cullen, the Irish Times Consumer Affairs Correspondent, has covered the 3 resignations from the CAI in Saturdays edition - click here to read more. You can see some of the reasons for the resignations there, but I will return to this again soon also.