Just one in eight health service workers eligible for the €1,000 Covid-19 pandemic bonus have been paid the money, almost five months after it was announced by Government.
New figures obtained by RTÉ's News At One programme show that at the start of this week 13,000 of the more than 100,000 HSE workers entitled to the bonus have received it.
While the HSE says it expects most people to be paid the bonus "in the coming weeks", it cannot give an exact date for when the final payments will be made.
In early January Government announced plans for a special tax-free €1,000 Covid-19 pandemic bonus payment. The money was to due be given to more than 100,000 full and part time personnel who worked in Covid-19 environments between March 2020 and June 2021.