Retailers urged to 'step to the plate' to ensure food prices come down

Junior enterprise minister Neale Richmond the price of butter and milk had been brought down 'with the stroke of a pen'

Retailers are being urged to "step to the plate" to ensure food prices come down.

Junior enterprise minister Neale Richmond has convened a meeting of the Retail Forum this Wednesday, where major suppliers and retailers will attend.

Mr Richmond said that the discussion will be "frank" as he will ask them why food inflation is at 16.3%, ahead of general inflation.

“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.” 

Mr Richmond told RTÉ's Morning Ireland that the price of butter and milk had been brought down "with the stroke of a pen" and said that while the Government can cap prices this was not something that would be done lightly.

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

The meeting comes as Sinn Féin prepares to table a Dáil motion on the issue which will be debated on Tuesday evening.

Sinn Féin joins many other opposition politicians in calling for supports on the issue. Last month, Labour’s finance spokesperson Ged Nash told the Dáil that lower- and modest-income families are "at the very sharpest end of the naked price gouging that is now going on”.

He has called on the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission to investigate such matters in the food market and to examine how profit-taking is contributing to the inflation problem, and to look at if price controls are required.