Executive directors at AIB shared pay and benefits worth €7.96 million last year, nearly twice the €4.08 million they received in 2004.

However, last year's figures included a number of exceptional factors including a €2.1 million pension contribution to former finance director, Gary Kennedy, who retired at the end of last year.

AIB's head of capital markets, Colm Doherty, was also paid a bonus of €900,000, nearly twice his annual salary of €471,000 and well ahead of the €340,000 bonus he received in 2004.

An AIB spokeswoman said the bonus, which is outside the usual range of 0-100 per cent of salary, reflected the consistently strong performance of the capital markets division over the last five years and its strong contribution to profits as well as benchmarking against peers.

The bank's annual report, which contained the figures, also showed that Eugene Sheehy, who took over as chief executive at the start of July, received a package worth €1.1 million, including a salary of €510,000, a bonus of €426,000 and pension contributions worth €132,000.

Michael Buckley, who stepped down from the top job at the end of June, received a total of €1.459 million, up slightly on the €1.445 million he was paid in 2004. His package included a basic salary of €430,000, a bonus of €400,000 and pension contributions worth €533,000. The bank's chairman, Dermot Gleeson, was paid €375,000 last year, up from €285,000 in 2004.