The ICTU general secretary, Mr Peter Cassells, is to become executive chairman of the new National Centre for Partnership and Performance (NCPP).
Mr Cassells has played a key role in the development of social partnership between unions and employers for 13 years.
Announcing the move yesterday, he said the NCPP could play a key role in managing "the transition to higher living standards and a better quality of life" in Irish society.
"This transition cannot be achieved by simply managing our prosperity at national level. It will require a remodelling of social partnership and a deepening of the partnership process at the level of the workplace and the wider community," he said.
The position carries a salary of £76,580, about £10,000 more than that of his present post. As executive chairman, Mr Cassells will participate in the appointment of a national director and board for the NCPP.
Its primary role will be to develop structures to improve the industrial relations climate and also to identify wider socio-economic problems, propose solutions and monitor progress.
It will work closely with the National Economic and Social Council, as well as the National Economic and Social Forum. All three agencies will operate under the auspices of the Department of the Taoiseach, although all will also operate at "arm's length" from the Government.
The deputy general secretary of ICTU, Ms Patricia O'Donovan, resigned last December to become head of social dialogue services at the International Labour Organisation in Geneva. Mr Cassells said new appointments to both positions would be made before he steps down in July, after the ICTU biennial conference.
Several names are being mentioned as possible successors to Mr Cassells. These include the deputy chairman of the Labour Court, Mr Kevin Duffy; the chief executive of Concern, Mr David Begg, who is a former general secretary of the Communications Workers' Union; the general secretary of IMPACT, Mr Peter McLoone; Mr Eamon Devoy of the TEEU; Mr Blair Horan of CPSU; and the general secretary of the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland, Mr Charlie Lennon.