The figures, disclosed in response to a series of Dail questions from Fine Gael TD Paul McGrath, show that each government department spends an average of 40,000 a year on newspapers for top civil servants and ministerial advisers.

The departments of Education, and Justice and Law Reform spend the most on newspapers with an outlay of 85,788 and 83,303.77 respectively last year. In the Department of Justice, 84 of the 700 staff received a daily newspaper in 2005, while 40 received two or more newspapers. The Department of the Taoiseach spent 75,324 on newspapers last year.

McGrath this weekend said he was "flabbergasted" by the "colossal" amount of money spent on newspapers, and said he couldn't understand why civil servants could not access newspapers more cheaply on-line.

The Westmeath TD also noted that it was the particularly well-paid civil servants who had the access to free newspapers. "I wonder do they pay benefit-in-kind [taxation]?" he asked.