New civil servants earning €7,000 less than colleagues

A trade union representing low-paid civil servants has claimed new recruits are now earning up to €7,000 less than their lowest paid colleagues in some roles.

At the annual conference of the Civil Public and Services Union, general secretary Eoin Ronayne said it will take new recruits six years to reach €11.50 per hour, which is estimated to be the “living wage”.

“Many of these new state employees are third-level qualified and when they realise it will take over 18 years to get to the mid-€30,000s they head off to better opportunities,” said Mr Ronayne.