Public servants’ wages rise twice as fast as other sectors
The 9.5% hike last year for public servants was also five times higher than earnings’ increases in the construction industry, according to new official figures from the Central Statistics Office.
The rapid growth in public sector wages was in line with benchmarking pay awards agreed by the social partners three years ago. The CSO figures further revealed the current level of 345,000 public service jobs was 9,000 more than the cap on public sector employment imposed by former Minister for Finance Charlie McCreevy in December 2002. A further 4,500 were recruited to the public sector last year.
The cost of funding the unplanned jobs is running at €380 million yearly - nearly enough to cut the top of income tax by 2%, or to cut the standard rate of income tax by 1%.
The CSO disclosures led to the Opposition last night accusing the Government of poor management of the public purse.
“Public services are crumbling yet costs are rising dramatically,” said Fine Gael’s finance spokesman Richard Bruton.
He said the Government had allowed public services to slip into crisis, in spite of a significant increase in public sector spending.
“The problem is that the Government is not managing its resources, is dogged by indecision, is using the wrong priorities and is displaying bad management.
“If it was a private sector company, the Cabinet would be sacked,” he said.
The CSO figures showed the number of new gardaí employed since 2002 was 300 despite pledges by Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats in their Programme for Government to deliver 2,000 extra gardaí.
Mr Bruton insisted public services were “in crisis”.
He said: “People are missing flights at Dublin Airport, garda manpower is effectively frozen and the battle of policing is being lost on the streets while money is not being delivered to the front line in hospital A & E units.”
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