Galway Bay fm newsroom - The government has given approval for several universities to break the payment cap and pay some senior staff salaries of more than 300 thousand euro a year.
Among the country's top academic earners is Professor William Wijns, an expert in cardiology at NUI Galway.
According to today's Irish Times, salaries for public sector employees are capped and can't be more than the Taoiseach's annual salary of 190 thousand euro.
However universities such as NUIG can seek approval to pay staff higher salaries on an individual basis.
Professor William Wijns is a professor of medical devices at NUIG and has a salary package of 250 thousand euro.
Professor Wijns is leading a 5 million euro research project which could alert patients at risk of heart attacks about certain risks.
The best-paid academic in the country is Professor Boris Kholodenko at UCD who earns 336 thousand euro.
He's involved in cutting-edge work on cancer.
Universities have consistently argued for public sector pay caps to be increased as they face difficulty attracting top academics.
