The Department of Finance is refusing to sign off on the work contracts of the two standing commissioners for communications 19 months after they took office as Government regulators.
The delay over signing the work contracts relates to a dispute over whether the two commissioners, Mr John Doherty and Ms Isolde Goggin, should be offered a "golden handcuffs" payment - worth up to a year's salary - when they step down from their posts.
Both commissioners earn salaries worth about €130,000 and can expect this to increase over the duration of their contracts.
The Irish Times has learned that the Department of Finance has questioned whether the two commissioners should receive the payment, which is provided to cover a non-compete period during which the commissioners will not be able to work for telecoms firms.
This type of "golden handcuff" clause is popular in the private sector, but is not considered by the Department of Finance to be appropriate for public servants, according to informed sources.
It wants to remove a precedent for offering national regulators "golden handcuff" clauses before two new regulators - for energy and communications - are appointed in the coming months.
It is understood the Department of Finance first raised the issue of non-compete clauses in relation to the work contract of Ms Etain Doyle, the State's first national regulator, in the 1990s.
Ms Doyle, who stepped down on June 30th, 2004, is now believed to be eligible for a full year's salary and a further six months on three-quarters of her salary if she does not take a job.
The Department of Finance is believed to have also raised certain objections to Ms Doyle's pension entitlements.
The Government finally brought in new legislation to enable it to pay out the former regulator's pension .
Mr Doherty and Ms Goggin are understood to have put on hold contract talks with the Government for a period of time last year as final negotiations on Ms Doyle's entitlements continued to be held..
But it is expected the two commissioners, the Department of Finance and the Department of Communications will enter talks on the contract issue shortly.
A spokesman for the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) refused to comment on the issue, saying it was a matter for the departments.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Finance would not comment on the issue.
According to records held by the Department of Finance, as recently as July 29th, assistant secretary at the Department of Communications, Mr Eamonn Molloy, wrote to the Department seeking approval for a post-termination payment.
