One HSE-employed medical consultant was earning an average of €17,492 every week throughout 2025.
New data released by the HSE in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request reveals that the highest-earning medical consultant last year took home €909,608 in total pay, reports RTE.
The doctor was the sole HSE employee to surpass the €900,000 mark last year, a threshold that no employee had reached in 2024.
The figures indicate that the consultant’s total earnings comprised €470,598 in basic pay, €232,028 in allowances, €138,382 for ‘on call’ duties, €60,585 in overtime and arrears of €8,015, reports RTE.
The second highest-paid consultant brought in €817,980, with allowances of €444,756 actually exceeding their basic pay of €373,224.
One other consultant among the top earners recorded the largest overtime payment of €192,757 within the top 20 best-paid for 2025, forming part of a total pay package of €523,945, reports RTE.
A separate consultant received an overtime payment of €189,237.
Three other consultants earned between €700,000 and €800,000; one fell within the €600,000 to €700,000 range, and five more earned between €500,000 and €600,000, reports RTE.
An additional 57 consultants received between €400,000 and €500,000.
The ten highest-paid consultants collectively received €6.28m last year, reports RTE.
In total, 5,221 consultants earned over €100,000 last year, of whom 2,674 earned between €100,000 and €200,000, while 1,723 earned between €200,000 and €300,000.
A further 757 earned between €300,000 and €400,000, reports RTE.
When asked to respond to the figures, a spokesman for the Irish Hospital Consultants Association (IHCA) said: “Headline figures on consultant earnings can be very misleading.”
He said: “The average earnings on the mid-point of the new salary scale is €262,000, which equates to approximately €130,000-€140,000 after tax and deductions,” reports RTE.
He said: “This salary is only achievable after having spent around 20 years in education, specialist training and fellowship posts. Hospital consultants represent less than 3% of the approximately 176,000 workers in Ireland with income levels of €150,000-plus, largely from the multinational sector, placing their earnings firmly in a broader national context.”
The spokesman said: “The higher individual earning figures relate to exceptional levels of additional work carried out by consultants – extended hours, weekend and overnight on-call and covering vacant posts in an understaffed system – not standard salaries,” reports RTE.
He added: “The real issue is not excessive pay but a persistent failure to recruit sufficient numbers of consultants to meet demand, and requiring a small cohort, often to rural Model 3 hospitals, to sustain critical patient services through extensive and excessive workloads in a highly pressurised environment. This is leading to significant levels of stress and burnout. Addressing these specialist workforce deficits should be a key concern for health service management,” reports RTE.
A spokesman for the HSE said today: “Consultants play a central role in how care is delivered,” reports RTE.
She said: “Following at least a decade of learning, practising and specialising (including medical school, internship, and basic and higher specialist training, often followed by fellowships) consultants are the senior clinical decision makers, leading medical teams and overseeing the care of thousands of HSE patients.”
She said: “Alongside their vital work treating patients, consultants shape clinical standards, lead multidisciplinary teams, and drive improvements across the health service,” reports RTE.
She said that “there are a range of payments and allowances which have the potential to increase remuneration significantly above basic pay as part of standard contractual terms and conditions,” reports RTE.
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