€208k golden handshake for senior garda

A retired assistant Garda commissioner received a golden handshake of more than €200,000 last year as part of a pension bonanza for the top brass.

According to figures released under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act, the State paid out €41.9m in lump sums to retiring gardaí from all ranks last year. This followed payouts of €46.8m in 2011.

The pension lump sum payouts last year were more than the entire Garda overtime bill of €41.5m in 2012.