The Government will appoint a new Information Society Commission by September and has agreed to overhaul the political structure overseeing the society.
This follows strong criticism from business and political leaders for not appointing a new group eight months after the old commission stood down.
The business and employers group IBEC and the Labour Party said recently the State had lost momentum in the e-business sector because of Government apathy on the issue.
Government sources told The Irish Times yesterday the process to appoint about 15 members to a new commission could be completed within weeks. A consultation process with the social partners is now complete and the Government will contact individual members within the next few weeks, said the source.
It is understood the Taoiseach is due to meet members of his department over the next few days to finalise the list of candidates for the commission.
The commission will comprise leaders in business and technology. It will also include members from the social partners and education.
The terms of reference for commission include monitoring the Republic's performance in its ongoing transition to an information society.
It will also contribute to the next Government action plan on technology, identify areas of co-operation with other countries and establish working groups to deal with specific sectoral issues.
In addition to appointing a new commission, a new cabinet committee will be established to formulate policy on the information society. This will be chaired by the Taoiseach and include 10 Government ministers.
The Government has decided to establish an expanded information society policy unit based in the Taoiseach's department. This unit will subsume the secretariat of the ISC, who were based previously at Dublin Castle.
In addition, the Government will establish a new strategy group composed of secretary-generals, charged with advancing e-government.
It is understood the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, has sanctioned a £50 million (#63.49 million) budget for an information society fund for 2001 and given assurances this will be at least matched in 2002.
The budget for 2000 was about £40 million. This money is made available to departments who wish to pursue projects advancing the information society.
Full details of the new structure are expected to be released when the membership of the new information society commission is announced.
The new political structure was agreed at a cabinet meeting in June and it was hoped plans could have been advanced before the summer recess. But the Taoiseach's busy schedule made this impossible.
However, IBEC reiterated its criticism of the lengthy delay in the appointment of a new commission yesterday. Ms Siobhan Masterson, e-business manager at IBEC, said the momentum surrounding e-commerce had died.
"Prior to December 2000 we were lobbying Government to appoint a new commission." she said. "In effect, nothing has happened and there is a general apathy regarding e-business," she said.
In a Dail question last month, the leader of the Labour Party, Mr Ruairi Quinn, asked the Taoiseach if he shared IBEC's concerns that the Government had lost its focus on ecommerce.
