A pint of stout averaged €6.33 in September 2026. Across the whole of 2010 it averaged under €4. These charts use CSO average prices to show how the cost of a pint, bread, milk, butter and fuel has changed, and what got cheaper in the past year.
The average pint of stout in an Irish pub cost €6.33 in September 2026. In 2010 the average across the whole year was €3.96. On our calculation that is about 60% more, though one figure is a single month and the other a full-year average.
These figures come from the Central Statistics Office (CSO). Each month it collects prices across the country to measure inflation, and it publishes a national average price for a list of everyday items.
What everyday items cost now
| Item | Price | Change in a year |
|---|---|---|
| Pint of lager in a pub | €6.75 | +25c |
| Pint of stout in a pub | €6.33 | +26c |
| Butter (454g) | €4.24 | -57c |
| Potatoes (2.5kg bag) | €3.67 | +1c |
| Cider can, take-home (50cl) | €2.73 | No change |
| Lager can, take-home (50cl) | €2.41 | -2c |
| Full-fat milk (2 litres) | €2.37 | -10c |
| White sliced pan (800g) | €1.67 | +1c |
| Sirloin steak (1kg) | €22.05 | +1c |
| Diesel (1 litre) | €2.06 | +37c |
A pint in the pub now costs more than two and a half times a take-home can of lager. Bread has barely moved in a year, while butter and milk have got cheaper. Of the items in this table, diesel rose the most, by 37c a litre, and butter fell the most.
The pint has risen almost every year
Over the 2010s the pint crept up by a few cents a year. Milk went the other way, falling from €1.80 to €1.69 for two litres. Potatoes bounced around with the harvest.
The 2010s: smokes up, cheese and bread down
Between 2010 and 2020, prices for some items moved in opposite directions. Cigarettes rose fastest of the items in the CSO's yearbook list. Cheese, bread and milk got cheaper.
| Item | 2010 | 2020 |
|---|---|---|
| Cigarettes, 20 pack | €8.42 | €13.44 |
| Men's dry cut | €12.72 | €15.57 |
| Whiskey, 70cl bottle | €22.64 | €25.88 |
| Roast beef, 1kg | €10.51 | €13.51 |
| Cheddar, 1kg | €11.40 | €9.05 |
| Brown sliced pan, 800g | €1.65 | €1.46 |
| Petrol, 1 litre | €1.31 | €1.37 |
Fuel barely changed over the decade as a whole. Petrol averaged €1.31 a litre in 2010 and €1.37 in 2020, though it peaked at €1.63 in 2012. By September 2026 it was €1.96.
average price of 20 cigarettes in 2020, up from €8.42 in 2010
Source: cso.ieThen the pint jumped
From 2021, prices across the economy rose much faster. In the 12 months to September 2022 alone, consumer prices rose by 8.2%. The September price of a pint of stout went from about €4.95 in 2021 to €6.33 in 2026. The 2021 figure is our calculation: the CSO's September 2022 price less its reported yearly rise.
The biggest single jump came between September 2022 and September 2023, when stout rose by 48c and lager by 50c. Lager has stayed between 35c and 43c dearer than stout throughout.
What got dearer and cheaper in the past year
Fuel led the rises. Diesel averaged €2.06 a litre and petrol €1.96. Butter fell by 57c, after rising by 39c in the year to September 2024 and 68c in the year to September 2025.
Bread and butter over three years
| Item | 2023 | 2024 | 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| White sliced pan (800g) | €1.65 | €1.61 | €1.67 |
| Butter (454g) | €3.74 | €4.13 | €4.24 |
| Full-fat milk (2 litres) | €2.19 | €2.20 | €2.37 |
| Potatoes (2.5kg) | €3.67 | €4.08 | €3.67 |
The sliced pan is one of the steadiest prices in the basket. It cost €1.65 in September 2023 and €1.67 three years later. Potatoes rose 41c in the year to September 2024 and then fell back.
The CSO publishes an average price for a cup of coffee.
It does not. Its average price list covers items like bread, milk, meat, drink, fuel and haircuts, but not a cup of coffee.
How the CSO collects prices
Every month the CSO gathers about 50,000 prices for 612 types of goods and services. Around 30 price collectors visit shops in 30 cities and towns, and the CSO adds price files from large retailers and prices checked online.
- Collectors pick a brand and size that fits the CSO's description of each item.
- They price that same item in the same shop every month.
- Prices are collected from the week containing the second Tuesday of the month, up to the third Tuesday.
- If an item disappears, a substitute can be used. If it is not a close match, its price is left out until it has been priced two months in a row.
- The prices feed into the Consumer Price Index, the main measure of inflation in Ireland.
In January 2026 the CSO moved to a new way of grouping items, called ECOICOP version 2. Electricity and gas, for example, moved from services to goods. Each item is weighted by how much households spend on it, based mainly on the 2022/2023 Household Budget Survey.
How to read these numbers
These are national averages. What you pay in your own area may be higher or lower. The CSO's average price list does not break prices down by county, so we cannot map them.
The 2010 to 2020 figures are averages for the whole year. The 2021 to 2026 figures are prices in September only, so the two sets are different measures and should not be compared directly. Some September figures are our own calculations from the CSO's reported yearly changes, and are labelled as such.
What this means for you
- Use the CSO average as a guide: if you pay far more, it is worth checking prices elsewhere.
- Take-home drink is much cheaper per can than a pint in the pub, at €2.41 for a 50cl can of lager.
- Butter and milk are cheaper than a year ago, so dairy is one area where the shopping bill has eased.
- The CSO updates average prices every month in its Consumer Price Index release.
CSO Consumer Price Index for October 2026, with new average prices. The September figures came out on 8 October 2026.
CSO Consumer Price Index for December 2026, the first full-year picture of 2026 prices.
