LAST UPDATE | 8 Feb 2022

THE TAOISEACH HAS said it is “not the view” of ministers that the high cost of living in Ireland can be solved by people switching suppliers.

His remarks followed an apology by Seán Fleming, the Minister of State at the Department of Finance, for comments in which he suggested people shop around to deal with the rise in the cost of living.

“That’s not the view of ministers, it’s not a privately held view either. The minister has apologised for the statement made. The key point is that we all realise it’s no secret that inflation is very high,” the Taoiseach said this evening.

He attributed the rise to global trends pushing up the price of oil and gas.

“The government is clear that in addition to the measures we’ve taken in the Budget we need to do more to cushion people against this particular cycle of inflation,” Micheál Martin said.

“We’re going to do that within the next day or two and finalise our measures.”

Fleming, who was speaking on RTE Drivetime yesterday said people should look for cheaper alternatives than complaining. 

In the interview Fleming said: “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. It takes effort to shop and switch, and if people make an effort they can save a lot of money. And people will tell you, they’ve changed insurance companies they’ve changed the supermarket they go to, they’ve changed their electricity supplier.”

Fleming went on to say: “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.”

Fleming’s comments caused a flurry of disquiet from political colleagues and last night he issued a statement apologising. 

“I did not intent 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,” he said.  

A number of Opposition TDs have hit out against Fleming for his comments. 

Social Democrats co-leader Catherine Murphy described Fleming’s comments as a “Marie Antoinette moment”.

“Instead of telling people to shop around, the responsibility has to be on the Government to actually take the action that makes a meaningful difference for people who are making a choice of heating their homes or indeed, paying the rent,” she said.

She said his remarks are “lecturing and plainly insulting”.

With reporting by Lauren Boland