The Minister for Public Expenditure & Reform, Brendan Howlin, has announced cuts in pay and pension arrangements for future top civil servants.
Under the existing scheme, Secretaries-General can retire early on generous terms including immediate pension, added years and a severance payment.
However in future, top officials face cuts in basic salary, no added years, and severance will only be payable in exceptional circumstances.
Under the ''TLAC'' system, the country's top civil servant Dermot McCarthy was entitled to retire recently aged 57 with a package including lump sums of €570,000 and an annual pension of €142,000 a year.
Brendan Howlin's new regime will dramatically cut benefits for his successors. He is eliminating the practice of added years, or paying pensions before the minimum pension age.
Those without 40 years service - who have not reached minimum pension age - will be offered alternative posts.
Severance pay will be abolished except in the case where a person is not of minimum pension age or has not been offered an alternative post. In that case, severance of up to one year's salary applies.
A Secretary General's salary has already fallen from €285,000 a year to €228,000 - from February, pensions will reflect that. Secretary Generals have also taken a voluntary cut to €200,000 - the level at which new appointments will be paid.
But future appointees will be hit even harder with a top salary of €200,000 - and with their pensions calculated on a less generous career average basis.
Minister Howlin says these changes will deliver substantial savings for taxpayers. But he said the new terms would be reviewed after 12 months to see "that they are effective in attracting the desired candidates".
County Managers are expected to be subject to similar arrangements, but the precise arrangements for them are being considered by the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government.
MEPs question Cardiff's nomination for Europe
Three Irish MEPs have questioned the nomination of the Department of Finance's Kevin Cardiff to the European Court of Auditors.
Speaking in Brussels today, Labour Party MEPs Phil Prendergast and Nessa Childers said that Mr Cardiff, when he comes in front of the committee, will have questions to answer and that there is some unhappiness in Government circles about his nomination.
Fine Gael's Sean Kelly MEP said circumstances had changed since his nomination, in the light of the recent accounting error involving €3.6 billion at his department.
The interview for the board of auditors is scheduled to take place in Brussels on November 23.
