Company directors are still apparently implacably opposed to telling their shareholders how much they are paid.

But the indications are that the plc fat cats and the Irish Stock Exchange will have to bow to the inevitable full disclosure or else face the prospect of legislation to compel them to do so. Until then, however, shareholders will have to still put up with the aggregation of remuneration unless their company follows the lead of Mr David Went and Mr Nelson Loane and gives a full breakdown.

For that very reason, this column is delighted when it gets its hands on a placing document where lots of interesting information is contained - usually late on in the document after all the figures mumbo-jumbo which by then has usually led shareholders to drop the document in the bin.

But Tullow Oil shareholders who did not have the determination to wade all the way to page 48 of the document on the current £24 million placing and open offer can find out exactly how much their directors are paid.

For a start, chairman, Mr Tom Toner picks up a remarkable £55,000 and that sounds rather a lot for a non-executive chairman who has to divide his time between chairing Tullow, Arnotts and Irish Continental Group, not to mention his other duties chairing state agency Forfas and private investment group Kelvinside.

On the executive side, chief executive, Mr Aidan Heavey is paid £230,000 sterling (£284,000) as well as a £20,000 sterling pension payment and a car valued at £18,178 sterling a year.

Commercial director, Mr Graham Martin, for some reason, does not warrant a company car but does have a salary of £120,000 sterling, the same paid to exploration director, Mr Diulio Ciriani. Other directors doing well are Mr Matt O'Donoghue who gets £125,000 sterling and Mr Matt Maher who picks up £105,000 sterling.

Those are pretty generous salaries for a company which has provided little joy for shareholders, is no closer to paying a dividend than it ever was, and has a stock market capitalisation of under £170 million.

The Tullow example alone is the perfect argument for full disclosure.

Any Tullow shareholder who wants to ask the board about its generosity can simply turn up at the EGM at noon on December 1st at Tullow's offices at Airfield House, Airfield Road in Donnybrook - in deepest Dublin 4. Don't be shy!