IRISH Permanent chief executive, Mr Roy Douglas, received total payments of almost £367,000 last year, compared to £341,000 the previous year, according to the annual report.

Mr Douglas is not specifically named in the annual report, but as chief executive he would have received the £367,000 that went to Irish Permanent's "highest paid director".

Mr Douglas received a basic salary of £210,144, fees of £20,910, benefits of £20,558 an annual bonus of £42,100 and pension contributions totalling £73,779.

The two other executive directors, Mr Peter Fitzpatrick and Mr Peter Ledbetter, shared a total of £542,000, up from £508,000 the previous year.

Mr Fitzpatrick and Mr Ledbetter shared salaries of £292,740 fees of £41,820, benefits of £35,628, annual bonuses of £64,050 and pension contributions of £108,384.

The three directors plus five other members of Irish Permanent's senior management will also this year receive over £2 million under a long term cash bonus scheme.

This was put in place shortly before Irish Permanent's flotation.

This payment was conditional on certain performance targets being reached.

The four executive directors of First National Building Society chief executive, Mr John Smyth, Mr Tony Shanahan, Mr Gerry Murphy and Mr Paul Reville shared salaries and other payments of £954,000 last according to the First National annual report.

When it is taken into account that Mr Reville was on the board for only six months, this works out at an average of £272,000 per director although the chief executive would have received substantially more than the average.

The 1996 payments compare to a total of £837,000 in 1995 when the three directors on the board at that time received an average of £279,000.

Basic salaries for the directors rose from £391,000 to £460,000, pension contributions rose from £153,000 to £194,000 although the directors' annual bonus fell from £197,000 to £177,000.

The annual report also shows that the executive directors and members of the senior management team had mortgages from the society totalling £982,839, representing 13 separate transactions.

This figure includes staff loans of £291,718 and other loans which carried a market rate of £691,121.

The seven non executive directors shared a total of £172,000 in fees and pension contributions, up from £164,000 in 1995.