Inside Bernard Gloster's €562,000 pension bonanza ahead of HSE chief's retirement

Extra.ie​

16-05-2025

HSE chief Bernard Gloster will walk away from the role with a €562,000 pension lump sum and annual payments of almost €190,000, Extra.ie can reveal.
Under the pension scheme, which all staff who joined the HSE before 2013 are entitled to, Mr Gloster – who has served almost four decades in the health service – will receive a one-off payment of one-and-a-half times his €375,000 salary.
He will also be paid an annual payment of half his salary for every year of retirement – a sum that eclipses the pay of Ministers of State. HSE chief Bernard Gloster will walk away from the role with a €562,000 pension lump sum and annual payments of almost €190,000, Extra.ie can reveal. Pic: Gareth Chaney/Collins Photos
Opposition TDs have praised Mr Gloster's tenure in public service but are taking aim at the 'double standard' in wages for frontline healthcare workers and gold-plated pension schemes for senior civil servants, with one calling his pay-off 'outrageous'.
'The Government has allowed such largesse to develop over and over again. It needs to stop,' Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said.
Mr Gloster announced earlier this week that he will retire in March 2026, describing the move as a 'significant personal decision'. Thanking staff in the health service, the 59-year-old said that he 'wanted to bring ­certainty to the future leadership of the organisation'. Under the pension scheme, which all staff who joined the HSE before 2013 are entitled to, Mr Gloster – who has served almost four decades in the health service – will receive a one-off payment of one-and-a-half times his €375,000 salary. Pic: Gareth Chaney/Collins
'I continue to be privileged to serve in this very important role and for the coming months I will be working hard with the board, the minister, and the department to advance many improvements and responses to challenges,' he said.
Mr Gloster joined the health service roughly 38 years ago. He was appointed head of the HSE in December 2022 having served as chief executive of Tusla since 2019. He will become the second consecutive HSE boss to exit the role after just three years, with his predecessor Paul Reid also cutting his five-year contract short.
The HSE confirmed to Extra.ie that Mr Gloster is a member of the HSE Superannuation Scheme, which applies to all staff who joined the health service prior to 2013. 'The Government has allowed such largesse to develop over and over again. It needs to stop,' Aontú leader Peadar Tóibín said. Pic: Fran Veale
As Mr Gloster began working in the health service prior to 2004, he is entitled to retire with full pension benefits once he reaches 60.
A spokeswoman for the HSE said that as of the beginning of March, Mr Gloster earns a gross annual salary of €394,232.
'In Mr Gloster's case this salary has been adjusted downward by 5% to €374,520.40 to reflect that he is a Class D PRSI contributor and a member of the HSE Superannuation Scheme and accompanying Spouses', Civil Partners' and Children's Pension Scheme,' the spokeswoman said.
She added: 'The CEO is not in receipt of any allowances.' This will equate to a lump sum of €561,780 and annual payments of €187,260. A well-placed
source noted that there is 'no negotiation' in terms of pensions in the HSE and that staff, ­including executives, are awarded 'nothing extra' outside of the scheme to which they sign up.
Mr Reid, who Mr Gloster succeeded, joined the health service as chief executive in 2019 following 30 years in the private sector and was not a member of the HSE pension scheme. This meant Mr Reid – who earned a total of €430,000 annually in pay and benefits – received annual pension contributions of €50,000 while in the health service.
Tony O'Brien, who led the HSE before Mr Reid, resigned in 2018 over the CervicalCheck scandal. Financial statements from the HSE show he was paid almost €100,000 in severance upon leaving the organisation.
Mr Gloster was perceived as well-liked within political circles, with TDs across benches of the Government and Opposition describing him as 'a very dedicated public servant'. But the details of his pension have been described as 'breathtaking'.
Mr Tóibín has calculated that Mr Gloster's entire pension pot will amount to a total of €4.5million over the next 20 years. 'There is no doubt that Bernard Gloster has done the State some significant service and I wish him well in his retirement. But this pension is eye-watering,' he said.
'The lump sum figure of over half-a-million euro is outrageous. It is hard to see how any public servant should get such a lump sum.'
Mr Tóibín added: 'There should not be such a contrast between those who work on the frontline and HSE management. The Government has allowed such largesse to develop over and over again. It needs to stop.'
Cian O'Callaghan, deputy leader of the Social Democrats and the party's finance spokesman, also acknowledged the 'hard work' of Mr Gloster in 'such a ­difficult role'.
'And I do agree that hard work should be reflected in workers' compensation,' he added. 'But many people at home work very hard for far, far less money.
'It is hard to justify and ­understand how there are such levels of disparity.'
The cost-of-living crisis was raised by Sinn Féin in the Dáil this week, with Taoiseach Micheál Martin ruling out a cost-of-living package in this year's budget.
'So many people are struggling to get by at the minute. This Government is now refusing to bring in a living wage – as they once promised… It's hard to comprehend the double standard here,' Mr O'Callaghan said.
The announcement of Mr Gloster's retirement came amid intense scrutiny of compensation being awarded to public servants and staff in semi-state bodies.
Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael received much backlash over the creation of more junior and 'super-junior' ministries upon the formation of the new Coalition.
Earlier this month, outgoing Nama chief executive Brendan McDonagh pulled out of the race to become the Government's new housing tsar following uproar over the possibility of him retaining his €430,000 pay packet.
Mairéad Farrell, Sinn Féin TD and chairwoman of the Oireachtas Finance Committee, has said she will seek to question Nama executives on whether Mr McDonagh will retain his salary when he returns to his previous role at the National Treasury Management Agency, from where he was seconded, later this year.
Meanwhile, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) heard yesterday that Children's Health Ireland (CHI) came to a 'settlement' with its former CEO for her to keep her €177,000 salary when taking over a new strategic role.
The PAC was told Eilish Hardiman continues to be paid her salary in her new role as CHI strategic programme director after former health minister Stephen Donnelly declined to approve her retention for a third term as CEO.
Comptroller and Auditor General Séamus McCarthy said that CHI – which is battling numerous scandals over children's operations – had been 'reluctant' to divulge the nature of the settlement with Ms Hardiman, and even its very existence.
He noted that typically such a settlement will have a non-disclosure agreement attached, 'and that it's really for CHI to provide what further information they can'.