Ireland’s highly paid civil servants have been targeted by European Union bosses bank-rolling the country’s attempts to save the economy.

EU and IMF chiefs have launched an extensive probe into the outlandish wages earned by top Irish public sector workers.

The European leaders are already shocked at the levels of pay enjoyed by the civil servants who oversaw the collapse of the Irish banking service. They are amazed at the disparity in the earnings of Irish workers compared to those holding similar positions on the continent.

And the message from Europe is clear – the gravy train is over!

The Sunday Independent reports that a series of recent surveys by government bodies has revealed that Ireland’s doctors, nurses, police and teachers are among the highest-paid public servants in the world.

University lecturers, judges and hospital consultants earn twice as much as their European counterparts while Ireland also has the highest-paid electricity workers in the world.

The reports also state that the pay increases enjoyed by public service workers in Ireland over the last 10 years are 100% higher than those in other European country.

The Independent claims that the revelations are causing major problems for Enda Kenny’s government at the EU/IMF negotiations.

“A senior EU official has told me that within Europe, the Irish are seen as being worse than the Greeks,” one government Minister told the Sunday Independent.

EU and IMF bosses are set to insist on major pay cuts at the top end of the civil service before they will move on the interest rate charged to Ireland under the bail-out.

Prime Minister Kenny earns less than Dermot McCarthy, secretary-general to the Government while a raft of semi-state bosses earn more than the Ministers they report to.

New Labour Minister Brendan Howlin has vowed to protect low paid civil servants against the threatened EU cuts.

“My priority is to protect frontline and low-paid public sector jobs,” said Howlin.