Public sector pays out €1bn in perks

Public sector workers boosted their earnings by an average of €8,862 last year through a series of allowances and overtime payments exceeding €1bn.

A trawl of figures across 34 government departments and agencies shows 22,000 members of staff were paid €10,000 or more on top of their salaries.

The biggest overtime and allowance bill was for the HSE at almost €600m — with 8,781 staff earning more than €10,000 each on top of their wages.