Pay hikes recommended for ministers were ‘unjustified’

MASSIVE pay increases for the Taoiseach, ministers and senior civil servants recommended in Government-commissioned reports were unjustified, a leading economic think-tank has found.

In 2007 and 2008, the Government-appointed Review Body on Higher Remuneration in the Public Sector published reports recommending increases for an array of senior state employees, including cabinet members, judges and secretaries-general of departments.

But the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) yesterday published a detailed analysis of public sector pay in 2006 and found it had already been high enough when the review body made its recommendations.