More than half of all Irish companies plan to pay their employees more in 2015.

A new survey from Ibec, claims base salaries are set to rise by 2 per cent this year.

The stats from the business group also show that just 1 per cent of firms cut their basic wages in 2014.

But despite the good news they are warning that many firms are still in survival mode and simply can't afford pay rises.

Ibec CEO, Danny Mc Coy, says the Government needs to take a number of steps: