Terry Venables lost his England assistant role last week

Terry Venables has emerged as a strong favourite to succeed Steve Staunton.

A statement after Tuesday's meeting said that FAI board members had "unanimously agreed" that positive progress had been made.

Former Cameroon boss and Holland star Arie Haan became the latest name to express interest in the job on Tuesday.

Tuesday's meeting also agreed that leading FAI officials will meet with the headhunters who will be delegated the task of approaching candidates for the job.

There is speculation that Andy Townsend, Don Givens and Don Howe have agreed to undertake the recruitment roles.

"While the Board considers it preferable to have a new manager in place before the February friendly with Brazil it will be emphasised to the recruitment panel that making the best possible appointment is the priority for Irish football," added the FAI statement.

Venables' close friend Ted Buxton told BBC Sport on Monday that the former England manager is interested in becoming the new Republic boss.

Buxton, who worked alongside Venables at Spurs, Crystal Palace and England, said he believed that the former Barcelona manager "fancied" the Republic job.

And Buxton added that Venables sought his opinion on Irish players when they met socially last Friday.

606: DEBATE Is Venables right for the Republic

"I would feel he would do a good job for the Republic," said Buxton.

"For me, he could do the kind of job that Jack Charlton did with the Republic.

"At that stage (on Friday), he hadn't been contacted by anybody about the Republic job although Terry does keep his cards quite close to his chest.

"But we had a few discussions recently about Irish players and in particular he asked me about the Reading boys (Kevin Doyle, Stephen Hunt and Shane Long).

"I see a lot of games so he would get my opinion on players."

Buxton is highly respected in the football world and also worked as part of Sven-Goran Eriksson's England set-up as a scout.

Weekend reports claimed that Venables had emerged as the main candidate to succeed Steve Staunton.

However, Football Association of Ireland chief executive John Delaney refused to comment on the issue after Sunday's World Cup draw in South Africa.

The (Republic) team has great potential and I'd love to get involved Arie Haan

Venables lost his job as England assistant last week following Steve McClaren's sacking.

Gerard Houllier and David O'Leary have also been linked with the Republic job while Arie Hann has joined Graeme Souness and Philippe Troussier in publicly expressing interest in the role.

Haan, a five time European Cup winner and twice World Cup finalist as a player, said in a statement that he had great admiration for the Irish sport.

"The Irish team has some talented players such as Robbie Keane and Stephen Ireland," said Haan.

"The team has great potential and I'd love to get involved," he added.

The 59-year-old's has a mixed managerial CV which includes two Belgian titles with Anderlecht in the late 1980s plus a Uefa Cup final appearance in 1989.

He also won the Belgian Cup with Standard Liege and had spells with Greek side PAOK and Dutch outfit Feyenoord.

In terms of international jobs, he guided China to the Asian Cup final where they were beaten by Japan before accepting the Cameroon job last year.

However, he quit the African role after only six months of a two-year contract, citing too much interference from the country's Football Federation president.