Business group Isme has called for immediate action to be taken to address the "scandalous" levels of pay and benefits enjoyed by individuals working in semi-state companies.

The organisation said it was bordering on criminal that excessive salaries were being paid to board members in semi-state firms when private sector unemployment had reached 450,000 and companies were struggling to survive.

"It is absolutely disgraceful that the boards of these semi-states, populated in the main by political cronies, aided and abetted by worker directors, have "screwed" the taxpayer by constantly awarding the cosseted workers in the semi-states exorbitant salaries way out of line with the rest of the economy," said ISME chief executive Mark Fielding.

He was responding to the news that Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin is to initiate a review of pay rates in the semi-State sector.

Mr Howlin said yesterday that people would be "surprised and shocked" at some of the salaries in semi-State companies identified in the recently published McCarthy report.

He said he had been mandated by the Cabinet to review pay rates across the public sector generally.

The McCarthy report, which was published yesterday afternoon, recommends a comparison of pay and conditions in commercial State companies in Ireland and abroad.

The report shows very high annual remuneration packages for chief executives of semi-State companies, including €752,000 for ESB chief Pádraig McManus in 2009; €698,000 for Dublin Airport Authority chief Declan Collier in 2007; and €523,000 for An Post chief Donal Connell in 2007.

Speaking today, Mr Fielding said that any review of salaries needs to be enacted quickly.

Isme is calling on the Government to immediately introduce an Appointments’ Commission consisting of a panel of independent experts to ensure the appointment of the appropriate people to the boards of the semi-State companies."

Mr Fielding said the lack of appropriate board expertise and fear of taking on the public sector unions had resulted in the taxpayer paying a premium for wages beyond what could be afforded.

"With the country bankrupt, almost half a million people out of work and businesses closing left right and centre, it is both economically and morally wrong to allow these extravagant wage levels to persist," he said.