The Government has continued its habit of paying several civil servants through the nose. The new Secretary General of the Department of Education will get a whopper €190,000 pay cheque every year.

The salary of the new department head, Seán Ó'Foghlú, will far outweigh those of the leaders of some of the world's superpowers. Seán will be rewarded for his skill set with €17,000 more than the British Prime Minister David Cameron. More staggering still, his pay will be well over twice that of Russian Premier Dimitry Medvedev.

The 45-year-old career civil servant has been assistant head at the Department of Education for the last three and a half years. So, he was the obvious choice for the top job. We wouldn't want the Government to look further than underneath their nose for a replacement.

The Irish Daily Star today reports that the Seán's bumper salary is seven times what a newly qualified teacher would earn and only €10,000 behind the Taoiseach's already inflated pay.

To add insult to injury, the person he's replacing, Brigid McManus, will retire later this month under the Government's 'Get out while you can' scheme. She'll get a lovely €204,000 golden wave off and an annual €115,000 pension payout.

Education Minister Ruairi Quinn said Seán: "...will make a major contribution to introducing change in the Irish education and training system". He'd want to with that size of a salary.