Big payouts for backroom HSE staff

HSE officials tasked solely with saving the state money, along with HR managers and senior finance officials, are receiving pension and lump sum retirement payouts five times higher than life-saving frontline staff.

Figures obtained by the Irish Examiner show the discrepancy was apparent in the €1.5bn pay pot for retirees in the first three years of the recession.

The records confirm that between Jan 2008 and Dec 2010, €1.1bn in pensions and €400m in lump sum payments were given to 7,167 people who left the system.