Low-paid civil servants taking hit for ‘gilded elite’

LOW-PAID public servants were the victims of deliberate double standards which saw a “gilded elite” earning six-figure salaries escape the same wage cuts, Fine Gael said last night.

The party’s finance spokesman, Richard Bruton, accused ministers of bending the rules and offering nonsensical explanations for why senior civil servants were spared the full force of salary reductions.

Despite Finance Minister Brian Lenihan saying civil servants earning over €125,000 would see their salaries reduced by between 8% and 15%, his department slipped out a change to the budget proposals for about 160 civil servants just before Christmas.