Tens of thousands of public servants haven't been paid this morning because of a problem with Bank of Ireland.

Gardaí, nurses, prison officers, transport workers and teachers are among those whose salaries haven't arrived in their bank accounts.

Although the issue has arisen with Bank of Ireland, it is affecting almost all workers who were due to be paid this morning, because of a centralised payroll system.

The vast majority of public sector workers who are paid on a fortnightly basis are paid through the Financial Shared Services unit in Killarney, which uses Bank of Ireland to process the payments.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said the bank was working with public officials to resolve the problems.

Workers at An Post, Eircom and a number of private companies are also reporting that they haven't been paid as a result of the problems this morning.