Officer received €170k golden handshake

One high-ranking garda last year received a golden handshake of more than €170,000 as part of a €25.9m pension bonanza for retiring gardaí.

The €173,678 amount paid out to the unnamed garda was one of 11 pension lump-sums in excess of €130,000 made to retiring gardaí last year. The top 20 recipients were given an aggregate €2.5m.

The €25.9m payout to 335 gardaí brings to €114.65m the amount paid to 1,277 retiring gardaí over the past three years.