Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe is moving to ban independent financial advisors from receiving commissions, according to reports.
Last month, the Central Bank issued a report recommending that the advisors should not be allowed accept commission or when they are paid they should be subject to restrictions.
However, emails disclosed to The Times Ireland under Freedom of Information showed that Minister Donohoe had decided to prohibit the payment of fees.
The email was sent to Irish Life Health by a senior official in the Department of Finance, Teresa Kelly Oroz.
The email said Mr Donohoe had decided to exercise his option "to prohibit the acceptance and retaining of fees, commissions or non monetary benefits by third parties in relation to the provision of independent insurance advice for insurance based investment products".
The industry has been campaigning against the ban.
However, the Pensions Council has backed a prohibition of commissions.
A spokesperson for the Department of Finance said: "The Central Bank of Ireland has published a set of proposals which are currently out for consultation and which are being reviewed by the Dept of Finance.
"In considering the proposals our aim is to ensure a level playing field between different types of investment products into the future."
