The director general of the Irish Business and Employers Confederation has been appointed to the IDA Ireland board.

Announcing the appointment, the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, said Mr John Dunne's wide experience in representing business interests would "benefit IDA Ireland at a time of significant change for the agency".

Mr Dunne has been director general of IBEC since 1993 when it was formed out of a merger of the Federation of Irish Employers and the Confederation of Irish Industry. He had previously been director general of the FIE.

As head of IBEC, Mr Dunne is involved in steering the employers lobby group, forming policy and taking part in national pay negotiations with the social partners. He is known as a pleasant, skilled, but tough negotiator.

Last July he became the first business leader to address an ICTU conference. At that conference he said he had come to social partnership through thinking "commercially rather than socially".

He succeeds Dr Eleanor O'Higgins, a senior lecturer in Business Administration at University College Dublin, who retires from the board.

Ms Harney expressed her appreciation of Dr O'Higgins's dedication and commitment while a board member. She thanked her for her contribution to the IDA's achievements over the past five years.