At least 17 HSE consultants have been paid retirement lump sums of over €250,000 this year.
According to details released under the Freedom of Information Act, 10 got over €300,000.
HSE staff were paid a total of over €71m in retirement lump sums in the first nine months of this year.
Some 131 got at least €100,000 each.
The 17 who received over €250,000 are all consultants, including obstetricians, psychiatrists and paediatricians.
The largest amount was €374,000, which was given to a general physician.
In 2019, the HSE paid out retirement lump sums that came to over €107m in total.
19 consultants and a general manager got over €200,000.
The highest was over €397,000 to a consultant psychiatrist.
