The junior minister suggested people should shop around to help reduce their bills instead of complaining about rising costs.
The opposition accused him of being out of touch - and he's since apologised for the comments.
Minister Michael McGrath insists the government is doing what it can to address the cost of living:
"All of us in public life are engaging with the media on a regular basis, we don't always find the right words but I know that Sean's hearts in the right place, we can't control everything, we can't directly control international energy prices, for example, but we have some levers and we are going to use a number of those to take some pressure off people."
Economist David McWilliams says politicians will struggle to tackle inflation in Ireland:
"There's no real policies in the government's toolbox and or the central bank to target Irish inflation specifically. So there is a VISTA open up or we will have higher prices until those prices begin to settle down again, that could take some time."
