In this episode, Niall speaks to economist and Irish Sunday Times columnist Cormac Lucey about the growing divide between working in Ireland’s public and private sectors.
Recent figures indicate that, during one working year, Gardaí took an average of approximately 18 sick days each, HSE employees, including nurses and doctors, averaged about 15 days, while teachers averaged roughly eight days. The figures are recorded differently across the various public services, so direct comparisons must be treated with caution, but they still raise questions about absenteeism, sick pay and accountability.
In many private sector workplaces, repeated absences would be closely examined and could eventually place an employee’s job at risk. Private employees currently have a statutory entitlement to only five paid sick days, paid at 70% of normal earnings and capped at €110 per day. Public servants generally have far more extensive sick leave arrangements, with some schemes allowing lengthy periods on full and half pay.
Cormac argues that this is only one part of a much wider difference between the two sectors. In his latest column, he says public sector workers benefit not only from superior sick pay, but also from greater job security, stronger pension arrangements and a substantial earnings premium.
Drawing on new CSO figures, Cormac points out that public administration and defence experienced the lowest level of job destruction across the economy between 2020 and early 2026. By comparison, workers in accommodation, food, entertainment, agriculture, construction and other private industries faced much higher rates of job loss and replacement. The CSO recorded more than 113,000 jobs being destroyed across the economy during the first quarter of 2026 alone.
Cormac’s central argument is that public sector pay cannot be judged by salary alone. A permanent employee with an extremely low risk of redundancy, a more generous attendance regime and a pension supported by future taxpayers may have a far more valuable overall package than a private employee earning the same headline wage.
Supporters of public servants will argue that Gardaí, nurses, doctors and teachers perform difficult and essential jobs, frequently under pressure, and that higher absence rates can reflect stressful, dangerous or physically demanding working conditions.
Critics say the system is too protected, too costly and largely insulated from the realities faced by workers whose businesses can close, whose jobs can disappear and whose pensions depend on what they personally manage to save.
So who really has the easier working life in Ireland? Are public servants properly rewarded for essential work, or have better pay, pensions, sick leave and job security created two very different classes of employee?
Niall discusses it with Cormac Lucey.
