The managing director of the Irish real estate agent Lisney has confirmed that staff have been asked to take a 10% pay cut.

Peter Stapleton said that with the downturn in the property market it was obvious that firms were having issues with overheads.

He said that he had spoken to the company's 150 staff directly, and that the pay cut would apply to all of the employees "from top to bottom" without exception.

Given that the property slump will extend well into 2009, it's very likely that payroll numbers will shrink as well.

Lisney says it is one of Ireland's leading commercial and residential real estate agencies with offices in Dublin, Cork and Belfast.

In the year ending March 2007, Lisney made a loss after-tax of €140,293.

In the previous year, the company made an after-tax profit of €279,430.

During that same period, staff wages at Lisney jumped by 40% to €15.7m. The company also hired 14 new staff in those 12 months which brought their numbers to 168.

According to the company's accounts,"The main risk to the group are changes in the market sentiment, negative movements in interest and inflation rates and their subsequent impact on the property market, and lack of investment opportunities."