Tourism Minister John O'Donoghue has said he is committed to ensuring that a contract for a National Conference Centre will be awarded by summer next year.
He was speaking at a Failte Ireland business tourism forum in Dublin today.
Three candidates have been short-listed for the public private partnership project, and Minister O'Donoghue said the aim was to issue invitations to tender to the three candidates before Christmas.
Meanwhile, Failte Ireland is aiming to increase the value of business tourism in Ireland by 17.5% to €470m by 2007.
Failte Ireland chairperson Gillian Bowler said air access was crucial for business tourism, and though this had improved, there was more to be done.
Forum chairman Peter Malone said a number of issues had been raised at consultative sessions earlier this year with groups across the sector.
He said Ireland was the only European country with a VAT rate of over 10% that does not reimburse businesses for hotel and restaurant expenses, while another issue raised was the retention of business class air access.
