Jefferson Smurfit Group chairman, Dr Michael Smurfit, took a pay cut last year, but still received €4.7 million from the group and its US associate Smurfit Stone.
These payments are in addition to the €5.4 million the 65-year-old chairman received in dividends from the company.
This compares with the €6.6 million Dr Smurfit received in 2000, a remuneration package opposed at the Smurfit annual general meeting by two of the group's Irish institutional shareholders: Irish Life Asset Managers and Aberdeen Asset Managers.
Another Irish institutional shareholder, AIB Investment Managers, abstained last year on the proposal to approve the remuneration package of Dr Smurfit and his fellow directors.
It remains to be seen what approach institutions will take towards Dr Smurfit's large, albeit reduced, pay package this time as most contacted yesterday had not seen the Smurfit annual report in which details of directors' pay are revealed.
Dr Smurfit may have taken a 30 per cent pay cut last year, but his package from Smurfit and its US associate still makes him by far the best-paid Irish company director, and far exceeds the remuneration packages of chief executives of far larger Irish firms.
Jefferson Smurfit is the seventh-biggest Irish public firm in terms of market capitalisation, but Dr Smurfit's €4.7 million pay package is far higher than that of the chief executives of those bigger firms - AIB's Mr Michael Buckley, Bank of Ireland's former chief executive Mr Maurice Keane, CRH's Mr Liam O'Mahony, Elan's Mr Donal Geaney, Ryanair's Mr Michael O'Leary and Irish Life's Mr David Went.
In Dr Smurfit's favour, it has to be said that Jefferson Smurfit's share price improved from €2.10 to €2.45 last year, although this performance is little better than it was 10 years ago when Smurfit revelled in the position of Ireland's biggest public company.
For the first time since he was appointed as chief operating officer, Mr Gary McGann is now paid more than the two Smurfit brothers who report to him.
Mr McGann received a 60 per cent pay rise last year from €1 million to €1.6 million while Mr Alan Smurfit's pay package has been trimmed from €1.2 million to just over €1 million.
Mr Dermot Smurfit's pay package has fallen from €1.27 million to €922,000 while Dr Smurfit's son Tony, who becomes chief operating officer this year when Mr McGann becomes chief executive, also suffered a minor pay cut - from €697,000 to €651,000.
The best-paid non-executive director was Mr Howard Kilroy, who received €167,000 - mostly from membership of various Smurfit board committees, while he also received an additional €51,000 from Smurfit Stone.
Former chief operations officer Mr Paddy Wright received €104,000 while the other non-executive directors received between €1,000 and €54,000.
Overall, Smurfit directors received a total of €9.7 million last year, down from the €11.7 million they shared the previous year.
The remuneration package for the Smurfit directors was approved by the remuneration committee comprising former EU Commissioner and Eircom chairman Mr Ray MacSharry, Mr Martin Rafferty and Mr James Thompson.
