A Government minister is being criticised after telling people to “shop around” instead of “complaining” about the cost of living.
Sean Fleming, Minister of State at the Department of Finance, made the controversial comments on RTE Radio 1's Drivetime programme on Monday.
He was responding to a question by host Sarah McInerney on whether the Government have been slow to react to the cost of living issue.
“It takes effort to shop and switch, and if people make an effort they can save a lot of money.
“So rather than just complaining on what the Government can do for me, you can actually have a serious impact on your own finance, but it involves people having to do some work themselves,” he said.
Expanding on his advice, he continued: “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 your home heating oil, switch the shop or the supermarket you do your weekly shop in and you might find its €20 or €30 different in another place.
“Switch your insurance company, switch your bank and your mortgage interest rates. All of that will save you hundreds of euros per year.
And people will tell you, they’ve changed insurance companies they’ve changed the supermarket they go to, they’ve changed their electricity supplier.”
When asked to clarify if he was telling members of the public to stop complaining about rising costs, Fleming stated that he was speaking about opposition TDs.
Sinn Féin’s finance spokesperson Pearse Doherty said the comments were “insulting”.
He wrote on Twitter: “Minister Fleming has had months to respond to the cost of living crisis facing workers and families. His advice that households should "stop complaining" & "do some work themselves" is insulting and out of touch. Is that the best this Government can come up with?”
Labour’s finance spokesperson Ged Nash added: “This really is something else, and from a Junior Minister for Finance too. Energy and fuel bills up by over 30% & his solution is… stop “complaining” and shop around!?
“At this rate, there’ll be a lot of FF voters shopping around for better value at the next election.”
And in a statement released late on Monday evening, Sean Fleming apologised for his comments and said Fianna Fail is taking the cost of living crisis "very seriously".
He said: “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 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.”
It comes as the Government is working on a package of financial measures to relieve the pressure on households who are struggling with soaring inflation.
Every household in Ireland is set to get €100 off their electricity bill in the coming months.
The Government is expected to announce on Tuesday that grants of more than €25,000 will be offered to individual householders to help pay for deep retrofits of their homes which in turn should reduce the cost of bills.
Speaking to reporters in Killarney on Monday, the Taoiseach said: said: “The priority right now is to see if we can bring in a range of measures that will cushion the blow for many people out there who clearly are feeling the impact of price rises and that is the agenda at the moment.
“We have indicated more broadly we’re looking at charges, we’re looking at costs that people have to bear.
“We’re looking at a range of charges that perhaps could reduce costs for people in their ordinary, everyday lives and there’s a number of measures currently being looked at.”
