Bord na Mona's finance director will step into the top job from January 1st next. Mr John D. Hourican's on a plc from January 1st next.

His appointment was announced yesterday following a decision by the board of the semi-state company on Thursday.

The appointment came after a lengthy process - preliminary interviews took place before the summer.

Mr Hourican was chief financial officer at Bord na Mona since 1989 and became director of finance and corporate development in 1999. He also worked with Wavin and with Data Terminal Systems.

From Co Longford, he was educated at St Mel's College and qualified as an accountant.

At the publication of the company's annual results earlier this year, Mr Hourican outlined briefly his views on what the future strategy of the semi-state peat production company might be. The "ideal", he said, would be to place it in public ownership, but he believed there were questions about scale and timing.

Bord na Mona's pre-tax profit for the year to March 29th last was €14.86 million, 36 per cent higher than in the previous year. Revenues were worth €195.77 million, marginally stronger than in the previous 12 months, when sales were worth €194.4 million.

Mr Hourican takes over from Mr Paddy Hughes, who has been with Bord na Mona for 42 years and who became managing director in 1996. In a tribute yesterday to Mr Hughes, the chairman, Mr Peter Malone, said he had led the company with great success, developing its four businesses on a sound and sustainable profitable basis.