His remarks did not go over well.
Minister of State at the Department of Finance Seán Fleming has issued an apology for comments he made about the rising cost of living in Ireland, which have been described as "tone-deaf".
A
much-discussed topic in current weeks, Fleming appeared on RTÉ's
Drivetime on Monday (7 February) where he began his interview by appearing to downplay the severity of the issue.
Asked if the rising cost of living represents the biggest threat currently faced by Government, he responded:
"There's a number of difficulties facing Government. If I was on two weeks ago, you'd have said [it was] Covid. If I was on last week, you'd have said housing is the biggest threat. And this week, it's the cost of living.
"The Government has lots of serious threats that we have to manage as best we can.
"This is very much in the air now in the last couple of months because inflation has gone up because of the rising price of gas and fuels."
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Later questioned if people should "brace themselves for pain" regarding the steady rise in the cost of living throughout Ireland, Fleming urged them to
look around for a better deal.
"The main advice I would like your listeners to hear today – and it's so simple, people will get bored hearing it – is switch everything. Switch your electricity supplier and you'll get a reduced price, switch your gas supplier if you're on gas, switch whoever who get your home heating oil [from], switch the shop or the supermarket you do your weekly shopping in," he said.
"You might find there's €20 or €30 difference in another place. Switch your insurance companies and switch your bank and your mortgage interest rates. All of those items, every one of them individually will save you hundreds of euro per year.
"It takes effort to shop and switch," Fleming continued.
"If people make an effort they can save a lot of money. People will tell you they've changed insurance companies, they've changed the supermarket they go to, they've changed their electricity supplier.
"Rather than just complaining and 'What's the Government going to do for me?', you can actually have a serious impact on your own finance – but it involves people having to do some work themselves."
Pressed on his methodology, Fleming insisted he was not suggesting people should "stop complaining" about the Government, rather that his alternative approach represents a better option.
Asked if his attitude is out of touch, he said:
"Don't do as I say – do as I do. I do the weekly shopping in my house for a long period of time and I know the prices in the supermarket and I know the supermarkets that offer different things at better prices.
"I've shopped around for my insurance... I've shopped around in relation to my health insurance... It does take time and effort and if people put in time and effort, they can actually get reductions."
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The comments proved controversial, with Sinn Féin's Louise O'Reilly calling them "tone-deaf" in a Twitter post.
Meanwhile, Labour TD Ged Nash wrote: "Energy and fuel bills up by over 30% and his solution is stop 'complaining' and shop around?
"At this rate, there'll be a lot of Fianna Fáil voters shopping around for better value at the next election."
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Following the interview, Fleming issued the following statement:
"In relation to the interview I gave on RTÉ's Drivetime this evening, I did not intend to imply people shouldn't complain about the cost of living, that wasn't my intention and for that I apologise.
"I was urging people to also shop around for the best value, in addition to the measures being taken by the Government.
"The Government and Fianna Fáil take the issues around the cost of living very seriously.
"We are taking action to help ease the cost of living pressures many are currently facing.
"I am very aware of the cost of living pressures that are currently confronting people and businesses."
Main image via Sam Boal/Rollingnews.ie
