The Government has asked the Minister for Tourism, Dr McDaid, to initiate discussions which could lead to an amalgamation between Bord Failte and CERT, the State training body for the catering industry. The board of Bord Failte and CERT's council met yesterday and have been given three weeks to tell Dr McDaid if a merger is feasible.
Bord Failte has lost its overseas marketing role to a new body, Tourism Ireland Ltd (TIL), a commercial body set up to sell the island of Ireland under the terms of the Good Friday agreement.
The Northern Ireland Tourist Board has also lost its overseas marketing function. Both organisations will see a substantial transfer of staff to the new body, which will be based in Dublin and Coleraine.
A spokeswoman for Dr McDaid said yesterday the latest steps were being taken because the remaining members of staff in Bord Failte needed reassurance as to their future. About 100 Bord Failte staff are to transfer to TIL and 30 from the Northern Ireland Tourist Board.
The Irish Tourist Industry Confederation last night welcomed the decision to examine the feasibility of bringing Bord Failte and CERT together as a new agency for the development of tourism in Ireland.
Mr Tony Kelly, the confederation chairman, said that while marketing abroad had been assigned to TIL, other major challenges faced the industry in its efforts to sustain the levels of revenue growth and employment creation achieved in recent years.
The president of the Irish Hotels Federation, Ms Mary Fitzgerald, said that while TIL would undertake the international promotion and marketing of Ireland, it was essential that "an effective national development agency is in place at home to assist and guide the tourist industry in the delivery of product to our overseas and domestic visitors".
Bord Failte and CERT issued a three-paragraph statement yesterday, saying a joint working group will examine the feasibility of a merger during the coming weeks and report back to their boards before the end of September. Neither organisation would comment further, but industry sources expect that CERT will be the dominant partner in any merger.
The chairman of Bord Failte, Mr Redmond O'Donoghue, resigned in May. He has been replaced by an acting chairman. The chief executive, Mr John Dully, took early retirement last month.