Government Departments will be able to directly hire staff under a new recruitment system for the public service which came into effect yesterday.
The Civil Service and Local Appointments Commission has been dissolved, and is replaced by two new bodies, one to act as a regulator and the other to engage in centralised recruitment.
Departments, however, will also be able to engage in direct recruitment under licence from the regulator.
Announcing the membership of the two new bodies, the Minister for Finance, Mr Cowen, described the changes as "a new era" for public service recruitment.
The Commission for Public Service Appointments will regulate recruitment to Departments and other public-sector bodies under its remit.
Its members will be the Ceann Comhairle, Mr Rory O'Hanlon TD; the secretary general of the Department of the Taoiseach, Mr Dermot McCarthy; the general secretary of the public service management division of the Department of Finance, Mr Eddie Sullivan; the Ombudsman, Ms Emily O'Reilly; and the chairman of the Standards in Public Office Commission, Mr Justice Smith.
The second body established, the Public Appointments Service (PAS), will act as a centralised recruitment, assessment and selection body for Departments and for other public service bodies.
Mr Frank Murray, the former secretary general to the Government, has been appointed chairman of PAS's board.
Its other members are: Mr John O'Connell, assistant secretary, Department of Finance; Ms Niamh O'Donoghue, assistant secretary, Revenue Commissioners; Ms Geraldine Tallon, assistant secretary, Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government; Mr Bernard Carey, director of personnel management and development, the Department of Health and Children; Ms Rosaleen Glackin, deputy general secretary, Civil Public and Services Union; Ms Maura McGrath, human resources consultant; and Ms Catherine Clancy, assistant Garda commissioner.
