The Government has moved to seek tenders from private sector investors to build a 2,000-seater National Conference Centre in Dublin.
In an advertisement sent to the EU Journal, the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, is seeking expressions of interest from the private sector before January 21st.
Mr O'Donoghue is understood to believe the centre, mooted since 1990, could be built by 2007 if satisfactory tenders are received. He is expected to announce today or tomorrow that tenders have been sought.
A previous effort to run a tender in 1995 ended in failure when Fine Gael-led Rainbow coalition judged that none of the entrants met the qualifying criteria. Reliable sources said last night that the advertisement specified that the centre should be built in Dublin on a privately-owned site or on one owned and controlled by the Government.
With private investors expected to foot the multimillion-euro bill for the construction of the centre, the Government will agree to enter a long-term agreement to lease the facility.
Government sources believe that the provision of such a centre could increase the number of visitors to the State for conferences by up to 30,000 annually, from 120,000 at present.
They believe such a centre would have the potential to raise about €25-€50 million annually in additional foreign revenues.
The sources said the figures were reasonable because conference attendees are high-spenders, who generally stay in up-market hotels and who are often inclined to extend their visit or make a return visit.
It is not known, for example, whether a Government-owned site has been identified for possible development. With property prices still booming, such an option would greatly reduce the upfront cost of the development.
The move to seek tenders follows a Government decision last June at which at working group comprising the Departments of Finance and Arts, Sport and Tourism and the Office of Public Works established the parameters of the competition.
The most recent attempt to sanction a conference centre was abandoned in 2000 when An Bord Pleanála gave planning permission for a centre with only 2,500 seats and rejected other elements of a high-rise development.
