Seán Fleming

Seán Fleming (born 27 February 1958) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who has served as a Teachta Dála (TD) since 1997 (for the Laois constituency since 2024, and previously from 2016 to 2020 and for Laois–Offaly constituency from 2020 to 2024, and previously from 1997 to 2016). He served as Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs from December 2022 to January 2025, and as Minister of State at the Department of Finance from July 2020 to December 2022. He served as Chair of the Public Accounts Committee from 2016 to 2020.

Political career Fleming is an accountant by profession. He was educated at University College Dublin. Fleming was first elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1997 general election and retained his seat at the 2002, 2007, 2011, 2016 and 2020 general elections. He was formerly Financial Director of Fianna Fáil at national level.

He was elected at the 1999 local elections as a member of Laois County Council for the Borris-in-Ossory local electoral area.

Fleming received criticism from opposition parties in February 2022 when, amid a 20 year high in inflation, he suggested that people should stop complaining about their finances, stating "ather than just complaining and [asking] '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." He later apologised for his comments.

In December 2022, he was appointed as Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs with special responsibility for International Development and Diaspora following the appointment of Leo Varadkar as Taoiseach. He was not re-appointed as a minister of state in 2025, but was appointed Cathaoirleach of the Committee on Infrastructure and National Development Plan Delivery.