It has emerged that forestry body Coillte is the only semi-State agency to resist the Government's request for a 15% pay cut at the top.
Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin asked the chief executives of commercial semi-States five months ago to take a 15% pay cut where their salary was above €250,000.
Mr Howlin set new pay levels for new appointees to the public service in June.
However, these could not be forced on those already in their jobs, according to legal advice from the Attorney General.
The Minister then publicly asked semi-State chief executives to volunteer a 15% cut.
This applied if their pay was over €250,000 for commercial semi-States, with a threshold of €200,000 for non-commercial bodies.
Eight agencies came in above the pay ceiling. Of these, seven have agreed to take a 15% cut.
They are An Post, The National Roads Authority, Bord Gáis, The Irish Aviation Authority, The ESB, Iarnród Eireann and The Dublin Airport Authority.
However, Coillte is the only agency to refuse to take a cut. Its chief executive David Gunning was paid a salary of €297,000 in 2010.
In a statement, Coillte said: "No decision has been taken to date in respect of the voluntary waiver."
Fianna Fáil Finance spokesman Michael McGrath said that it is entirely unacceptable that the CEO of Coillte is being paid €100,000 more than the Taoiseach given the very serious crisis the country is facing.
