Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton has said she is interested in having a cap on the level of pension contributions that qualify for the higher rate of tax relief.
She said she did not think it was necessarily a good idea to seek to reduce the marginal rate of relief, but rather to cap it.
She said people should perhaps get relief in order to provide themselves with an annual pension of €60,000, but if they were able to save more they would not get a tax break on that.
Speaking on the RTÉ's Six One News as a report into pension charges was published, Minister Burton said it was very difficult to work out the level of pension charges at the moment, as a lot of charges were effectively hidden.
She said people should be informed of the level of charges levied on their pensions.
She said a general provision scheme, which would be compulsory, is still some way off, but would perhaps be looked at in several years.
The report on the cost of pensions found that individuals can lose 30% of the value of their pension fund in charges levied by pension companies.
The report says many pension schemes and individuals are paying more than they need to, with small occupational pension schemes and individual pension policies in particular paying high costs.
It says the industry faces major challenges in the reasonableness and transparency of charges.
It also says that trustees of pension schemes and individual consumers may not fully understand the charges and how they apply, and that this information is not as clear as it could be.
Ms Burton said: "Just like any other service, consumers should be able to compare prices and obtain the best value available."
According to the report, an individual with a pension fund of €400,000 could lose up to €120,000, or 30%, of that fund in charges.
It says occupational pension schemes can be more reasonably priced, but many schemes are paying more than they need to.
It found that a person in a defined contribution scheme can lose up to 15% of their pension fund to charges.
In the case of a €400,000 fund, this can mean a cost of €60,000.
The report found that apparently small percentage charges can add up to big reductions in a pension fund's value over time.
For example, if an individual aged 35 saves €250 a month for a pension over 30 years, a fund of around €200,000 is created, which gives a pension of €10,000 a year.
If the average annual charge of 2.18% per annum is applied to this fund, the final amount is reduced by 31% - or €62,000.
This gives a significantly lower annual pension amount of €6,900 per year.
It would be reduced even more if maximum charges were applied.
