Average public service pay has fallen by nearly €50 a week since 2009 according to official data. The figures, from the Central Statistics Office (CSO), do not include the so-called pension levy, which has further reduced public service pay by 7% on average.

Public servants have also been hit by the same increased taxes and charges as everyone else over the last six austerity budgets.

The CSO calculates that average weekly wages in the public sector are down by €47.88 - or 5% - since 2009. This compares to a much smaller average decline of €2.41 - or 0.4% - in the private sector.

Hourly wages have decreased by even more in both the public service (-5.8%) and private sector (-1.4%). The average number of weekly hours decreased from 32 to 31.4 in the private sector and increased from 31.9 to 32.2 in the public service.

A sectoral breakdown of the earnings figures shows a highly mixed picture with a huge 10.3% decrease in hourly earnings in education, compared to a 12.4% increase in the information and communications sector.

The wide disparity demonstrates that the average income figures mask very different fortunes for workers in different sectors and pay bands. The figures do not measure the impact of compulsory redundancy - the biggest determinant of income decline during the recession - which has not been a feature in the public service.

The CSO figures also reveal an 8.3% decline in public service employment between 2009 and 2013.

The national unemployment rate decreased from 13.6 % to 12.8 % in the year to September 2013. Unemployment is now at its lowest level since 2009 after the fifth successive quarterly decline.