He was speaking on RTÉ's News At One in advance of a meeting of the Croke Park Implementation Body on how to achieve further savings under the agreement.
Mr Howlin said that he indicated on 18 September, at the end of the review of allowances, that one category amounting to 88 allowances would be looked at with a view to eliminating them under the Croke Park Agreement.
The minister said he had written to all the sectoral managers to do just that.
Mr Howlin added that whether or not these allowances could be eliminated would be a matter for the sectoral committees through engagement with unions under the agreed Croke Park processes.
The minister said that some of the allowances, including a €65 a year shoe allowance, were relatively "small beer" in his department's efforts to reduce the public pay bill by a net €3.8bn or 20%.
Yesterday, the minister's office instructed all Government departments to commence moves to cut over 80 allowances for serving State employees.
Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar today said the proposals to remove allowances will be "a good test of the Croke Park process" to see if it can deliver the reforms needed.
"We will have to do it in terms of the agreement," Mr Varadkar said, adding that he expects the matter will "be fast-tracked to the Labour Court".
He said the decision to remove the allowances does not represent a u-turn by the Government.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny said that some of the allowances that have grown up over the years are part of core pay.
However, he said that there are a whole range of other allowances and other areas within the agreement that could be examined in order to maximise savings.
Fianna Fáil's Willie O'Dea told the Dáil that there is confusion over public sector allowances and asked Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore if it was a genuine effort or a window-dressing exercise.
Mr Gilmore said many of the allowances were agreed during the years when Fianna Fáil was in government.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, SIPTU's Patricia King said a move to cut public service allowances was an attack on low-paid workers.
Employers' group IBEC has called for increased working hours for public servants as a means of generating savings in the public sector pay bill, while maintaining frontline services.
It also called for the suspension of increments to public servants, saying it was not "credible" and did not make economic sense to award €1bn in pay rises to this group over the term of the agreement.
This afternoon's special meeting will be chaired by the Taoiseach, who last month asked every minister to consider ways of achieving more savings from the agreement.
Potential savings will be presented to public service unions and management for consideration at the meeting.
At the Public Accounts Committee this morning, Sinn Féin's Mary Lou McDonald said the Government was out to protect the higher paid end of the public service.
However, Mr Howlin said that only 1.8% of public servants earned more than €100,000.
Croke Park Implementation Body Chairman PJ Fitzpatrick praised the unions on the body for their efforts to make changes even when it is hard.
Mr Fitzpatrick singled out gardaí and the Prison Service for particular mention for reforms achieved under the agreement.
He said garda reforms had gone much deeper than roster changes and included performance management.
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