CRH's executive directors shared salaries, bonuses and pension contributions of more than €7.5 million last year, an increase of more than €1 million on 2005, the group's annual report shows.

Chief executive Liam O'Mahony had a total package of €2.656 million in 2006, a 38 per cent increase on his €1.925 million remuneration the previous year.

This included a basic of €1.24 million, topped up by €960,000 in cash and €430,000 in deferred shares paid under the building materials group's incentive scheme. He received no retirement benefits but was paid €26,000 in other benefits.

Tom Hill, chief executive of Oldcastle, CRH's main Americas materials business, was paid a total of €1.825 million in 2006, compared with €1.272 million a year earlier.

Under the incentive scheme, Mr Hill was paid €638,000 in cash and €288,000 in deferred shares. The group paid him €147,000 in retirement benefits.

CRH paid finance director Myles Lee, a total of €1.411 million, compared with €993,000 in 2005. He benefited from a cash payment of €430,000 and €187,000 in deferred shares under the bonus scheme.

He also had €209,000 in retirement benefits.

The report notes that last year's Finance Act effectively capped pension provisions by introducing a penalty tax charge on pension assets "in excess of €5 million or the value of individual prospective pension entitlements as at December 7th, 2005.

"As a result of these changes, the remuneration committee has decided that Irish-based executive directors should have the option of continuing to accrue pension benefits as previously or of choosing an alternative - by accepting pension benefits limited by the cap - with a similar overall cost to the group."