The new National Consumer Agency is to draw up strategies aimed at increasing awareness among the public of their legal rights when buying goods and services.
The plan was decided at the first full meeting of the agency, which took place in Dublin yesterday.
Informed sources said there was a view among members that Irish consumers in general were unaware of their rights as consumers.
As one of its priorities for the year, the agency will seek to draw up strategies aimed at improving information for consumers in this area.
A spokesman for the agency told The Irish Times last night that it would decide on its other objectives for the current year at subsequent meetings. The agency also hopes to forge links with the various social partners.
In its statement, the agency made no mention of the controversies over the Groceries Order or the Rip-Off Republic television programme, whose presenter, Eddie Hobbs, is a member of the agency's board.
The chairwoman of the agency, Anne Fitzgerald, has previously come out strongly against the retention of the Groceries Order, which bans retailers from selling goods below their wholesale invoice price.
The agency was established earlier this year by Minister for Enterprise and Employment Micheál Martin "to give a voice to the consumer and to challenge vested interests".
Meanwhile, Minister for Finance Brian Cowen said yesterday he did not believe "low-cost Ireland was a myth".
He said the share of national income as a percentage of GDP that went on taxes was 30 per cent compared with an EU average of 40 per cent.
He said when people look at prices they also should look at earnings. Since the Government came back into office, he added, earnings had risen by 50 per cent while prices had gone up by 30 per cent.
Mr Cowen said people felt in better shape than they did eight or nine years ago.
However, Fine Gael finance spokesman Richard Bruton last night claimed the real tax burden is more than 36 per cent. He said households were, on average, paying €5,500 in stealth taxes that the Government would not admit to.
"This is not a minor miscalculation. The truth is, when Minister Cowen presented the tax bill in his budget statement, he systematically ignored huge swathes of tax.
"These include: social insurance, €5,615 million; commercial rates, €908 million; health charges, €951 million; and motor tax, €747 million."
