The couple who own some of Ireland’s best-known pubs, including Kehoes and The Stag’s Head in Dublin, shared a bumper pay-packet of €6.8m last year.

Louis and Helen Fitzgerald gave themselves a four-fold pay increase last year to €2.28m as pre-tax profits flowed once again at their Dublin-based pub and hotel group.

One hundred new jobs are coming on stream in Dublin today as a new hotel opens its doors on the outskirts of the city.