Five civil servants have retired with lump sum payments worth over €300,000 over the past three years.
The payments were made to officials with long service in the public sector to go along with an entitlement to a six-figure annual pension.
Details from the Department of the Public Expenditure show how one person last year received a lump sum of €358,490.
Their annual pension was calculated at €120,692, according to data released under Freedom of Information laws.
Another retiring civil servant got a golden handshake of €311,698 and is eligible for a per-year pension worth €114,340.
In 2023, two long-serving staff each received lump sums of €313,600. Both are entitled to an annual pension of €115,710, the department data showed.
There was also a single lump sum payment of €306,315 in 2022 which is payable alongside a yearly pension entitlement of €110,965.
In the period between 2020 and 2024, nine different people retired with per-annum pensions that were worth in excess of €100,000.
At least 89 former civil servants received lump sums worth between €200,000 and €300,000 during those five years.
The department figures detail just how significant a burden the pension bill for highly paid civil servants is proving for the taxpayer.
The top twenty lump sums for 2024 for example cost a combined €4.67 million.
Pensions for those twenty individuals will cost €1.5 million every year, although normal tax rates apply to these payments.
For lump sums, anything up to €200,000 is tax-free while anything between €200,000 and €500,000 is taxed at only the standard rate of twenty per cent according to Revenue rules.