The Central Statistics Office's regular comparison of prices in Dublin with those outside the capital has shown that meat prices are generally higher in Dublin, while prices of services such as cinema and hairdressing are 'significantly higher' in Dublin.
The CSO said it looked at 79 items in May. Average prices were higher in Dublin for 51 of these and lower for 27, while the price of one item was the same. Prices of 34 items were more than 3% higher in Dublin, while prices of 15 items were more than 3% cheaper in Dublin.
On average, prices were 4.4% higher in Dublin, little changed from the 4.5% gap in the last survey in November.
The biggest price gap was for a gents' wash, cut and blow dry, which was 47% more expensive in Dublin. The price of an uncooked chicken was 27.3% higher in Dublin, while orange juice is almost 15% higher. Bread prices, however, were around 8% more expensive outside Dublin, while a fillet of plaice was 14.4% dearer outside the capital.
Read the full CSO details here
Prices of meat and fruit and vegetables were higher in Dublin, but fish prices were generally comparable. Tobacco prices were similar. Drink prices in pubs were higher in Dublin for all items, but for drink in off-licences, there were fewer differences.
Petrol prices were 2.1% higher in Dublin, while diesel was 1.7% more expensive.
Q1 planning permissions down 23.7%
Separate CSO figures show that planning permission was granted for 14,177 homes in the first three months of this year, a drop of 23.7% from the same period last year.
For houses, there was a fall of almost 23% to 10,256, while permissions for apartments dropped 25.8% to 3,921. One-off houses accounted for almost a fifth of all homes given planning permission in the quarter.
