RTÉ News has obtained details of some of the €1.5bn of allowances paid to public servants each year, over and above basic pay.
They include payments for rent, transport, uniforms, housekeepers, underwear and working as a tuck shop supervisor.
The allowances are currently under review by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, which is planning to cut the annual allowances bill by 5% this year and next year, and by 10% in subsequent years.
Rent accounts for a huge portion of spending on allowances.
Gardaí availed of rent allowances totalling €58m in 2010.
Around 2,700 non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHOs) get almost €3,000 per annum in rent allowance each, costing the Health Service Executive €8m a year.
Prison officers and fire fighters also receive rent allowances.
Additional qualifications also attract allowances.
Primary and secondary teachers (excluding those working in VECs) received allowances totalling €223m in 2010.
Management and “posts of responsibility” allowances for teachers(again excluding those in VECs) came to €180m.
Some hospital consultants get €46,000 a year for being clinical directors.
There is a range of other allowances for everything from uniforms, to working in the Gaeltacht.
Senior gardaí get an un-vouched travel allowance of €4,260 a year.
Defence Forces chaplains get an annual "houskeeper and maidservants" allowance, which collectively amounted to over €22,000 last year.
Some 377 members of the Defence Forces get the “female underwear (night-time attire)” allowance of €27.40 a year, totalling €10,330.
Service officers get up to €34.29 per week for franking mail.
A prison tuck shop supervisor earns an extra €2,659 a year.
The Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, Brendan Howlin, is expected to bring proposals to reform the allowances regime to Cabinet within the next few weeks.
