Health insurer VHI has sought Government permission to pay its new chief executive €650,000 a year, more than twice the salary recently approved by the Cabinet.
The company's application, made to the Department of Health and Children, will raise further concern about the continuing rises in top State salaries.
In contrast to this trend, the benchmarking report to be published today is expected to award no pay increase to most rank-and-file civil and public servants.
The VHI, which is the largest health insurer in the State, is currently recruiting a new chief executive to replace Vincent Sheridan, who retires shortly.
The number of candidates has been whittled down to three. Two are currently highly paid executives in the private sector and the other is an executive with the VHI.
The semi-State insurer's application was passed on by the Department of Health and Children to the Department of Finance before Christmas, and officials there are understood to be concerned by the scale of the package sought.
They have yet to bring a recommendation to Minister for Finance Brian Cowen, although it is understood the department has been told there will be "significant issues" about filling the post if the VHI is not able to offer a remuneration package on the scale proposed.
A report drawn up by the Hay Group consultancy firm, and accepted by the Cabinet recently, recommended the VHI chief executive should be paid a yearly salary of between €237,660 and €297,024.
However, Mr Sheridan's total package in 2006 was worth €339,000, and this had increased to €422,000 in the year to February 2007, according to the company's latest annual accounts.
The Hay report said the position of the VHI chief executive had a "median" market value of €452,100.
The report also concluded that only two State-employed chief executives out of 14 were being paid close to the average salary enjoyed by their private-sector peers and that both of those executives - in An Post and the Dublin Airport Authority - had been recruited from private business.
The VHI has had difficulties before with State pay rates. In 1998, its attempt to recruit Ray Bates, the then chief executive of the National Lottery, and to pay him approximately £150,000 a year, was vetoed by the cabinet of the day, which said it breached its guidelines on pay.
Following this reverse, the VHI hired a PricewaterhouseCoopers executive, Aidan Walsh, to run the company as a consultant, though it ended up paying £250,00 a year for his services.
In March 2001, the VHI also manoeuvred around the State pay guidelines to hire Mr Sheridan, who was hired as an "acting" chief executive for a five-year contract following the departure of Oliver Tattan, who now heads up Vivas, one of the VHI's competitors.
