The Government is being urged to cut costs to retail, to help the sector recover.

There are signs of improvement, but Retail Ireland says the Government can do more to assist such as a cut in income tax to provide a kick-start.

The group is holding its annual conference in Dublin today, which will hear that the volume of sales has increased in the past year, but the value of sales remained the same.

The conference, which is being opened by the Taoiseach this morning will hear that consumer spending could grow by 2 percent this year.

Over a quarter of a million people work in the retail sector here.

Retail Ireland's Stephen Lynam says a number of measures would help the retail recovery: