TD Brian Hayes

TEACHERS' payslips should become a thing of the past as they are costing the state €1m a year, according to a Fine Gael TD.

Dublin South West TD Brian Hayes has called on the Department of Education, and all other government departments, to start using electronic payslips as almost €3.5m of taxpayers' money has been spent on wage slips for civil servants in the last three years.

Figures obtained by Hayes show that the overall cost of payslips has risen since 2007. He said: "Three government departments have moved over to an electronic system already and made savings. €1m a year is spent on payslips for teachers and the fact that three government departments have done it already shows that there should be joined-up thinking across government departments."

The figures, a breakdown on the cost for each department in 2007, 2008 and 2009, also show that the Department of Education pay slips cost significantly more than any other department; a massive €949,685 last year, €916,388 in 2008 and €865,521 in 2007. The cost of the Department of Health's new computerised system is just 20% of what it was three years ago. While the cost of payslips at the Department of Transport was €28,195 in 2007, it is now just €3,172 with the paper-free system.

The information was obtained from each government department in response to a parliamentary question about the total costs associated with issuing pay slips to staff including production, printing and delivery.