1.5m workers earn less than Ahern’s pay rise

ALMOST 1.5 million workers earn less in a year than the €38,000 pay increase which Taoiseach Bertie Ahern recently approved for himself.

Despite the “ordinary man” image the Taoiseach likes to present, the size of Mr Ahern’s hike shows he is “completely out of touch” with the plight of the average worker, it was claimed last night.

Figures from the Department of Finance show two thirds of the total workforce of 2.2 million earned less last year than Mr Ahern’s pay rise.