More than €2.2 million was paid last year to people for sitting on interview panels for public jobs with one former semi-state employee earning more than €50,000.
Nearly two-thirds of all the payments, in total €1.44 million, were made to individuals that had retired from the civil service or the public sector.
A further €175,601 was paid to ex-employees of semi-state agencies while interview board members from the private sector received €627,987.
There was also a small payment of €3,150 to retired trade union members, according to data released by public jobs, which manages appointments across the public sector.
They said a total of €2,246,279 had been spent on fees last year which covered the cost of conducting 18,436 separate interviews with candidates.
For some retirees and private sector staff, serving on panels proved lucrative in 2023.
One retired semi-state worker was paid a total of €50,085 while a member of the private sector received €48,150.
One former employee of the civil or public service was paid €41,595, one of the three people who were paid more than €40,000 for sitting on panels.
There were a further five people who picked up fees of between €30,000 and €40,000, mostly individuals from the private sector.
Ten others earned between €20,000 and €30,000 from part-time work serving on interview boards, mostly former public sector staff.
Under Freedom of Information laws, public jobs provided details on the top fifty highest paid individuals with the final person on the list receiving €14,170.
The fees are paid depending on seniority, with civil servants getting between €130 and €377 for serving on a board according to their grade before retirement.
For private sector board members, the payment can range from €130 per day to as high as €469 per day for a “management consultant”.
An internal set of guidelines from public jobs said it was better to pick board members where “large amounts of travel and subsistence” were not needed.
The guidelines also explained how an existing €195 overnight subsistence rate for Dublin was sometimes proving insufficient due to accommodation prices.
They said: “In a case where there are shortages of hotel beds in Dublin and the prices available are higher than the €195 subsistence rate, the unit dealing with the campaign should look to secure three quotes for suitable hotel accommodation.”
It said that “in recognition of difficulties in sourcing suitable accommodation” in the city, a separate vouched accommodation rate could apply instead with receipts provided to back up the claim.
Asked about the expenditure, a spokesperson for public jobs said: “In line with best practice, we utilise a panel of suitably experienced and trained board members to assess, evaluate, and select candidates for the wide range of positions for which we recruit.
“Board members can include current civil and public servants, individuals from the private and semi-state sectors, and retired civil and public servants and trade union officials.”
