Bonuses boost top bosses' pay to more than €1m

CRH's Albert Manifold is the country's best-paid boss, with an €8.23m pay package that would take an ordinary worker 212 years to earn, according to research by the trade union movement.

DCC's Donal Murphy was second highest, earning €4.95m in 2018, followed by Tony Smurfit at Smurfit Kappa (€3.37m) and recently resigned Tullow Oil CEO Paul McDade (€3.12m).

The figures were compiled by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (Ictu) based on the 2018 accounts of 20 of the biggest companies listed on the Irish Stock Exchange and six Irish companies listed in London.

Stock market listed companies are obliged to publish the salary details of senior managers, but private companies are not and most don't.

"The telephone number-like salaries and the unjustifiable gap between the top and rest of the workforce needs to be urgently tackled," Ictu general secretary Patricia King said.

She added the Government was ignoring the economic and social consequences of excessive pay.

The research includes details of the pay of heads of the 12 commercial semi-state companies. It found airport operator DAA, where Ms King is herself a director, has the highest paid chief executive - Dalton Philips - whose €395,000 pay package in 2018 rose 4.5pc on the previous year.

Pay for top managers at DAA and other semi-state companies is notionally capped at €250,000, but is boosted by pension and taxable benefits.

ESB chief executive Pat O'Doherty was the next highest paid semi-state boss, with a €386,000 package, including a €295,000 basic salary.

Ictu social policy officer Dr Laura Bambrick said Ireland has so far failed to implement a new EU Shareholder Rights Directive, due to come into force here. It will require listed companies to explain how the pay of their employees is taken into account when setting salaries for company bosses.