The Government is to fast-track legislation to allow for the establishment of a new super authority for the tourist industry to replace Bord Fáilte and CERT.
It is understood that Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism, Mr O'Donoghue, has got agreement to give the legislation priority in the new Dáil session. This will allow for the setting up of the National Tourism Authority.
The Minister wants to have the authority on a statutory footing early next year, so the new body will be in place in time for the 2003 tourist season.
An advertisement for the €130,000-a-year post for chief executive of the new authority is to be placed in newspapers this week.
The move comes on the back of a poor tourist year, with the industry facing major setbacks from the foot-and-mouth outbreak and September 11th last year, and poor weather this year.
While the number of overseas visitors increased by 10.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2002, the second quarter figures are expected to show a significant fall-off in demand.
In July, the Minister announced the establishment of an interim board whose job it is to set up the authority. The move follows the establishment of Tourism Ireland, an all-island agency set up under the Belfast Agreement to market Ireland as a tourist destination.
The Northern Ireland Tourism Board also lost its overseas marketing function.
The interim board is chaired by the former chief executive of Forfás, Mr John Travers, and also includes the chairman of Bord Fáilte, Mr Noel McGinley, and the chairman of CERT, Mr Eamonn McKeon.
The Minister has said the tourist industry faces a "challenge" and he feels strongly it is time to reassess and reform to avail of the changing marketplace's potential.
The job of the new chief executive will be to form a strategy to realise the full potential of tourism within the Irish economy.
He or she will also have to develop and maintain effective relationships with a wide range of stakeholders in the industry both at home and abroad.
Bord Fáilte was established in 1955 to promote tourism in Ireland. CERT, meanwhile, was set up in 1963 to co-ordinate the education, recruitment and training of personnel for the tourism and catering industry.
With the establishment of Tourism Ireland, Bord Fáilte lost about half of its staff but retains a number of functions, including marketing the State as a venue for special-interest tourism, and attracting major sporting events, such as the Ryder Cup golf tournament.
It was in September 2001 that the then Minister for Tourism, Dr McDaid, asked Bord Fáilte and Cert to initiate discussions on a possible amalgamation.