Department of Education officials are expected to introduce radical changes in how the exam system is run following a recommendation in a report by a former senior civil servant.
The Department is likely to hand over the administration of exams either to a private company or a new State agency, under plans being drawn up.
A senior official said both options were still being studied, but the Department was determined to remove itself from the day-to-day running of exams, which places a huge strain on its resources.
The move comes after a highly critical report was issued last year by Mr Sean Cromien which said the exam system was a serious drain on manpower and resources.
The Minister for Education, Dr Woods, has the report and in the coming weeks will be responsible for implementing its recommendations. He invited Mr Cromien, the former secretary-general of the Department of Finance, to compile the report after staff complained about the Department's workload and staff numbers.
Speaking at a meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Education and Science, Mr Cromien said an independent body could easily run the exams, and it was not "core" work of the Department.
He said many countries had handed over the running of exams to outside agencies, and there was no reason this could not be considered here.
Mr Cromien said another change needed was a network of local offices linked to the Department of Education's main centres. He said they could operate like "one-stop shops" and could provide various services.
Senator Joe O'Toole, general secretary of the Irish National Teachers' Organisation, said at the meeting that teachers wanted an input into local decision-making. They often knew most about maximising resources but were not able to make their views known to the Department's regional inspectors.