Taoiseach Bertie Ahern defended his salary increase and claimed that, unlike himself, other international leaders had jets, yachts and private and holiday residences.
Mr Ahern challenged the media to feature an article about the perks enjoyed by his counterparts elsewhere.
"I would invite a member of the media . . . It would not be that hard for them. They could write a glowing article about how poverty stricken we are against the rest of them."
He said he would gladly forgo his salary increase to some future date, as had happened before, if he believed it would make a "whit" of a difference. "It would probably get page 99 in the newspaper if you did that."
Mr Ahern said: "Compared to Sarkozy and all of these, I mean to be quite frank, I know and I think you know the arrangements that all of these people have.
"And it is like a lot of their tax arrangements as well . . . they don't operate the system of transparency . . . they have all kinds of allowances and all kinds of ways of doing it . . . I would like if somebody went to the trouble of putting them all upfront and doing them . . . Most of them, not alone have they got their permanent residence, their weekend residence, they have their holiday residence and different rules to us as well where they are the beneficiaries of prolonged holidays and yachts and homes and everything else . . . where they are allowed to do that.
"We don't have those regulations. I don't think we should have those regulations. But I don't think, by comparison, that most of the colleagues you have mentioned wouldn't pay for a cup of tea from one end of the year to the other because they have their catering staff in their homes . . . they have everything else . . . including they can use their jets for any of their social pleasures."
Mr Ahern said what he had received "was an 11-year increase of just short of 3 per cent over the seven-year period".He said he accepted that a very large pay increase, covering a long period, created difficulties. The review body, which was set up in 1969, covered a period from 2000 to the current period, but should have covered from 2000 to 2004.
The body had reflected trends in the private sector at senior levels, and it was not just "taking in New Zealand, or politicians in New Zealand or Australia".
The reality was that private-sector grades had increased quite substantially up over the past seven-year period. Mr Ahern said that he had listened to the views of Ictu and others on the issue and the Government would take the increase over a two-year period.
Mr Ahern was replying to Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny, who said it seemed the remuneration body had looked to New Zealand and Australia for some reason.
"On my way to Brussels, on Tuesday of last week, I noticed in the Economist a beautiful table showing our small country with its well-paid Ministers.
"Here is our man, ahead of president George Bush, president Nicolas Sarkozy, prime minister Gordon Brown and chancellor Angela Merkel."
Labour leader Eamon Gilmore accused the Taoiseach of having "a hard neck" in asking the social partners for wage restraint. "What does he have to say in respect of the comment made by David Begg, who is not known for overstatement, to the effect that the Taoiseach's plea for wage restraint lacked credibility on foot of the ministerial pay increases?"
Mr Ahern said he understood that Mr Begg had accepted that the increases were the result of an independent assessment based on the principles of comparability which were an established feature of public sector pay determination.
He said that people in high management jobs in the private sector earned over €1 million, but thankfully such increases had not been recommended.
