The Minister for Further and Higher Education has said it is "utterly offensive" for Irish banks to be "complete and utter laggards" in passing on interest rate increases to savers.
Simon Harris said the financial institutions "need a reality check" and he said it is "not acceptable" that banks in some places "are trying to have it both ways".
He said there is "a situation where 'oh we're sorry, we have to increase your mortgage interest rates because the interest rates increased', but actually the poor saver and maybe the pensioner or maybe the parent who has been squirreling away small amounts of money week in, week out... finds themselves not benefiting in terms of the interest rate increase on their savings."
Although banks have started to improve their offering to deposit holders, the higher rates mainly apply to regular saver accounts or term accounts where savers lock their money away for a period of time.
Regular deposit accounts and current accounts are still attracting negligible rates of interest.
The Minister said "it's utterly offensive for Irish banks to be complete and utter laggards when it comes to passing on the benefits to those who have money on deposit" in relation to interest rate rises.
He said there are people in the country "feeling they are getting fleeced by certain financial institutions".
A bank levy has been in place since the global financial crisis, designed to ensure that as banks became profitable the taxpayer is able to ensure benefits from the return to profitability.
The average interest rate on new mortgage arrangements in Ireland breached the 4% mark last week.
Responding to Minister Harris, a spokesperson for Banking and Payments Federation Ireland said: "mindful of the current cost of living pressures on their customers, BPFI member banks have sought to take a balanced approach and have been slow in passing on the full effect of the ECB interest rate increases to mortgage holders in addition to deposit rates."
In a statement to RTÉ News, the spokesperson added "in this context, average mortgage rate increases in Ireland have been the second lowest when compared across other Eurozone countries in the past year."
RTÉ issues must not be ongoing soap opera, says Minister
Meanwhile, Mr Harris said progress must be made this month on the "very serious" financial and governance issues facing RTÉ and not become an ongoing soap opera.
Mr Harris said he does not want a situation "where the Dáil resumes in September and we go 'let's go back to RTÉ again'".
The minister said August should not be seen as "a month off, in terms of making progress in relation to the very serious financial and governance issues that came to fore in relation to RTÉ."
Speaking as he attended the Collins-Griffith Commemoration in Glasnevin Cemetery, Minister Harris said he believes "it's certainly desirable to bring finality in terms of answers, next steps and action plans."
He also said the Government has been very clear in relation to any additional funding that may be required, that "there will be conditions attached to that".
"Certainly, one of those conditions is going to be transparency and us being able to ensure the taxpayers in this country that RTÉ has moved to a much better place."
Asked if returning Ryan Tubridy to the 9am timeslot on RTÉ Radio 1 would send the wrong signal to licence fee payers, Minister Harris said he was not sure that such a move would send out the wrong message.
He said it would be "unedifying and inappropriate for Government ministers to start giving a view on who should be presenting what radio programme."
Mr Tubridy has been off air from his weekday radio show since the payments scandal broke at RTÉ in June.
RTÉ has been engulfed in controversy since it admitted it had underdeclared Mr Tubridy's earnings by €345,000 from 2017 to 2022.
Mr Harris said "the sooner, the better that finality can be brought to these issues."
He added: "We don't need a kind of an ongoing soap opera. As I've said before, we need RTÉ reporting on the news, not being the news and I think the quicker we can get back to that place, the better for all."
