THE GOVERNMENT HAS called for retailers to “step up to the plate” and commit to a wider reduction in grocery costs, ahead of a retail summit later this week.

A meeting of the Retail Forum is due to take place this Wednesday, with major retailers, producers and distributors expected to attend .

The meeting was called by Neale Richmond, a junior minister with responsibility for retail business, who said that there would be “frank” discussions with retailers.

Richmond told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that grocery inflation was “way ahead of general inflation” at 16.3%.

He added that grocery prices had not come down before last week, where the price of both butter and milk was reduced “at the stroke of a pen” by major supermarkets.

“We appreciate that there’s always a delay between prices coming down and inflation dropping and all that, but we have been waiting some weeks and months since we’ve seen inflation peak and start to come down but we haven’t seen those price cuts across staple goods in supermarkets before last week.

“There’s a lot more that both retailers and food distribution companies can do, we believe, to bring down the cost for consumers whilst maintaining a fair price for farmers across the country.”

The Dublin Rathdown TD said that he had reminded retailers that the Government has the ability to introduce price caps through the 2007 Consumer Protection Act, but that it was not something that “was done lightly”.

“It’s not something that is done lightly or indeed considered lightly, so I very much hope that we’re not in the position to be anywhere near going near them,” Richmond said.

Asked if he had seen any evidence of price gouging, Richmond said that the Government had received “a number of reports” but that they were yet to be verified.

Richmond added that the meeting was to give retailers a “fair chance” to begin to reduce prices and that the Government would be entering into the meeting in “good faith”.

“We will do more in the budget, but the private sector and the food sector have to step up to the plate on this,” Richmond said.