Public sector job numbers continue to rise despite the cap on recruitment announced by the then Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, in December 2002.
Figures published yesterday by the Central Statistics Office show 338,600 people were employed in the public service at the end of March.
That was an increase of 2,600 since December 2002, when Mr McCreevy announced a cap on recruitment as well as a plan to reduce staffing levels by 5,000 over three years.
However, the CSO figures show there has been a dramatic slow-down in recruitment since Mr McCreevy made his budget announcement.
In the previous two years, public service job numbers had risen by 35,000, more than 10 times the increase since then.
Most of the extra jobs have been created in the education and health sectors. The combined number employed in these areas increased by 3,300, to 183,900, in the 15 months to last March.
Civil service employment numbers remained unchanged, at 37,600, while there was a slight decrease in employment in local authorities, semi-State companies and the Defence Forces.
The number of gardaí increased by 200 to 11,900.
While job numbers have been increasing slowly, there has been a significant rise in public sector earnings, the CSO figures show.
Excluding the health service, for which figures were not available, average weekly earnings increased by 7.4 per cent in the 12 months to the end of March.
In the Civil Service, prison officers were the highest earners, with a gross average of €1,001.37 per week, of which €223 was overtime. Prison officers' pay, however, has steadily declined from a high of €1,136.92 in December 2002.
Administrative civil servants earned a weekly average of €714.58. Gardaí earned an average of €999.74 per week, although this dropped to €875.24 with overtime excluded.
Average weekly earnings in the Defence Forces were €651.54; in the education sector €786.20; in local authorities €615.76 and in semi-State bodies €838.20.
The overall public sector average, excluding health, was €771.06.
The earnings figures represent the gross amount before deduction of tax, PRSI and superannuation.
