The wage increases enjoyed by Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, finance minister Brian Cowen and John Hurley, the governor of the Central Bank, have been well ahead of those received by the general public.

Ahern, who earlier this month called for wage restraint in the face of rising inflation, has enjoyed pay rises of almost 80,000 over the last five years. This is a 40% increase and compares to the 26% increase for the average Irish worker over the same period. Since 2002, Ahern's salary has soared from 192,741 to 271,823. Similarly, finance minister Cowen has seen his Tanaiste's salary increase from 165,603 to 233,502 in the same period . . . again an increase of over 40% and well over twice the rate of inflation for the same period. The average industrial wage has increased from 465 a week to 589 a week in that time.

Ahern and Cowen, along with all the other ministers and TDs, are set to widen the pay gap even further later this year when the benchmarking body and the review body on pay for top public servants recommend extra pay increases beyond those paid to private-sector workers.

Earlier this month, Ahern told the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) at its conference in Co Donegal that while there were "no easy answers" to the problem of wage increases being wiped out by inflation . . . Ireland couldn't go back to the "wage/price inflationary spiral" of the '80s.

Then last week, finance minister Brian Cowen, speaking at the McGill summer school in Donegal, warned that workers should not respond to the current increase in headline inflation "by pushing wage rates higher".

"Cool-headedness and restraint are what are required in wage-setting expectations and behaviours at all levels of both the private and the public sectors, " said Cowen.

Similar remarks came the previous week from the governor of the Central Bank, John Hurley, who warned that wage increases to compensate for higher interest rates "made no sense". But the Central Bank's annual report shows Hurley enjoyed a 9.5% pay increase last year . . . over three times the 3% increase in the average industrial wage. Hurley was paid 351,125 plus a company car last year, according to the Central Bank report.