More than 500 senior civil servants have received retirement lump sums in exc ess of €100,000 in the past three years.

In 2013-2015, more than 3,000 civil servants retired. As well as a guaranteed pension of half of final salary for retirees with full service (40 years), civil servants receive a lump sum of 150 per cent of their final salary. This is tax-free up to €200,000.

Last year some 20 per cent, or one in five, of all retirees from the Civil Service received lump sums of over €100,000.

Five senior officials received lump sums of €250,000- €300,000, 11 received payments of €200,000-€250,000 and 43 received payments of €150,000-€200,000.

All of these people have pensions of more than €100,000 a year. A total of 172 retirees received payments of between €100,000-€150,000.

In 2014, 229 senior officials received lump sums greater than €100,000. In 2013, owing to the smaller number of retirements that year, the number was 49. That year, one senior civil servant had a lump sum of more than €300,000.

Government departments

The figures refer to the Civil Service, which staffs mainly government departments and has about 36,000 employees, rather than the wider public service.

The figures were released by the Department of Public Expenditure in a reply to a parliamentary question from Sinn Féin TD Pearse Doherty.

The department says the average pension last year was €24,400, though this includes many pensioners with much less than full service and much smaller pensions. It was unable to ascertain the average pension or lump sum for a civil servant with full service.

The department said that the average lump sum for a retiring civil servant was €65,000. Those receiving lump sums higher than €100,000 are likely to be senior officials with full service.

With rising life expectancy and greater numbers of public sector pensioners, the bill for pensions is rising sharply. In 2008, the public sector pension bill was €1.6 billion. Last year it was €2.8 billion.