Foreign Affairs staff are reported to be "annoyed and angry" about the manner in which new posts arising out of Ireland's seat on the UN Security Council have been filled.
An e-mail has been circulated in the Department stating that positions in New York and Geneva have been filled and no applications will be considered.
These prestige positions would normally be highly sought after.
For the past 10 years, posts in the Department have been filled through a system known as "planned posting", where those interested in transfers make this known to management. The length of time they have been working in Ireland is an important factor in deciding whether and when they will be posted abroad.
The system was introduced to enable people to plan their careers in the service with less domestic disruption than had previously occurred.
However, the nine new posts that have arisen out of Ireland's seat on the Security Council have been filled outside the system.
Anger within the Department has been fuelled by the fact that a new post of charge d'affaires in Oslo, where a new Irish Embassy is about to open, has been filled by somebody already working in Norway for the EU, rather than through the planned postings system.
A Department spokesman said the planned postings system "was not set in stone", and came up annually when considering what new posts had to be filled in the summer. Because of Ireland's seat on the Security Council, and the need to proceed as soon as possible with the embassy in Oslo, management was faced with the need to make decisions quickly.
There are five new diplomatic posts in New York and one in Geneva, one post of legal adviser and two administrative posts, all in New York. Two of those appointed to New York were already there, including Mr Frank Smyth, First Secretary, and one was on a career break in Israel. The others are being sent out from Ireland.
The spokesman acknowledged: "Some people feel a bit disgruntled and that's understandable, but there is pressure on all sides. There's the ongoing situation in Northern Ireland, there's the huge increase in development aid, Europe and the Inter-Governmental Conference. The people who are not being moved are not being moved because they're needed where they are.
"There will be more than enough opportunities next year for people who want to go abroad. A lot don't want to. There will be no change in planned posting next year."
Mr Sean MacDonald, chairman of the Department's branch of the Association of Higher Civil and Public Servants, acknowledged that there was "annoyance and anger" about the new appointments, but added that sometimes situations had to be dealt with on an ad-hoc basis.