I presume you are talking about company paid term policies.
You have an accumulative fund value of €400,000 - €160,000 is paid tax free and the remain €240,000 goes into an annuity.
Have you looked at the possibility of transferring the pension fund to a PRSA. On death, the full value of that fund is paid to your estate tax free. The term assurance policy is now only 2.5 times salary, so the full value of the fund is paid tax free too.
...if they are in personally paid funds, the whole whack is paid tax free.
Steven
http://www.bluewaterfp.ie (www.bluewaterfp.ie)