Residential estate agent Sherry FitzGerald has appointed Kevin Dufficy as its new chief financial officer.

The role has been vacant since Steven McKenna left it to replace co-founder Mark FitzGerald as chief executive when he stepped down in July 2017. Mr FitzGerald remains the company’s largest shareholder.

Mr Dufficy, who is in his mid-thirties, previously spent nine years working for PwC and advised Sherry FitzGerald on the sale of its commercial business Cushman & Wakefield last year.

Sherry FitzGerald is the Republic’s biggest estate agent. It sells about 7,000 homes a year and has a 15 per cent share of the market.