Salaries paid to executive directors of Northern Ireland Electricity were strongly defended at the group's annual general meeting in Belfast yesterday.

A number of queries were raised by shareholders about the remuneration of directors, particularly the four executive directors. The chief executive's remuneration level this year - including salary, benefits in kind, performance payments and pension contributions - is detailed in the annual report as totalling £393,000.

But Prof Mary McAleese, a non executive director who is chairman of the company's remuneration committee, told the meeting that, on executive "remuneration policy, the company operates within a framework which attempts to ensure that the individuals who are "the brains, or thinking engine"

of the company were fairly rewarded.