CSO reports 3.1% increase in cost of full Irish breakfast
The Central Statistics Office CSO) has calculated the costs of a family-sized fry-up using the prices of some of the items they collect as part of their Consumer Price Index basket. These prices form part of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) which measures inflation in Ireland.
The sample plate, comprising rashers, sausages, a half-dozen large eggs, mushrooms, and tomatoes, reflects items for which they collect prices. The analysis reveals a 3.1% increase in the cost of a family-sized traditional Irish breakfast using these ingredients within the 12 months leading up to January 2024, the most recent period for which figures are available.
Prices for back rashers, pork sausages, mushrooms, and tomatoes by the kilogram. To provide context, 1kg would yield approximately 16-20 sausages or 12-16 rashers.
Looking just at the cost for a family-sized fry-up, the price of these ingredients has gone from €27.20 in January 2023 to €28.03 in 2024 or up by 3.1%.
The cost of a large white sliced pan and 1lb of butter has gone down from €5.50 in January 2023 to €5.40 in January 2024, which was a -1.8% decrease.
According to CSO, the only items to fall in price within the 12 months to January 2024 were bread, butter, and milk.
The cost of 80 tea bags and two litres of full-fat milk has risen from €5.17 to €5.30 in the 12 months to January 2024, or has gone up by 2.4%.
That puts the total cost of a traditional Irish breakfast including bread, butter, tea, and milk at €38.79 in January 2024, which was up by 2.3% within the 12 months to January 2024.
Milk and meat substitutes have only recently been added to the basket of goods as announced on 15 February 2024, so it will be 12 months before the CSO has comparative data available for vegan items other than mushrooms and tomatoes.
Anthony Dawson, statistician, Prices Division, said: “While most of the items associated with a traditional Irish breakfast are collected by our team of price collectors, some items such as black and white pudding are not published as a National Average Price. Other items such as hash browns are not part of the CPI basket of goods and are not part of the CPI price collection. The more controversial choice of whether beans should be included or not on the plate has been removed from our shoulders as we also do not produce National Average Prices for them.”