Senior civil servants in Northern Ireland were paid around £1 million in bonuses last year, it emerged today.
The amount is more than double the payout level of four years ago.
The largest bonus award was made in the department of Finance and Personnel, which shared out a total of £273,000 to 36 senior officials.
The figures were obtained by SDLP Assembly member Patsy McGlone in a series of written questions to ministers.
The total for nine of the Executive's 11 departments was £914,250, with the Department of Health and the Office of the First and Deputy First Minister yet to provide data.
If the payout in those departments is in keeping with the other nine, the total will well exceed the £1 million barrier.
Mr McGlone said the bonus culture had to end.
"I am still waiting for answers from some departments but it is already clear that there is a bonus system in operation for top grades which we as public representatives would find it very difficult to defend to the general public, especially in a downturn," said the Mid Ulster representative.
"Bonuses of several thousand pounds each are being paid out and we have no idea what they are for, over and above the work the individuals are already paid their salary for.
"These bonuses are going exclusively to those who are already highly paid, and the determination is being made by other top civil servants so it looks suspiciously like a closed golden circle.
"The total cost over time runs into millions. If anyone deserves a bonus it must be the low-paid public servants who keep the whole machinery of government going day to day."
In the written answers provided to Mr McGlone, Sinn Féin ministers Conor Murphy, Caitriona Ruane and Michelle Gildernew all expressed concern at the level of the payout to senior public servants.
Mr McGlone added: "We need a transparent system of payments for top civil servants just as much as we do for MLAs and MPs, but bonuses should motivate exceptional effort and success.
"It can hardly be said that only those at the top need motivation."