The head of ComReg, Ireland's telecommunications and postal regulator, Alex Chisholm (above), is to become one of the UK's most powerful regulators following his appointment as the head of the new Competition and Markets Authority.

Mr Chisholm, who will take up the five-year post in March, has been a commissioner at ComReg since 2007 and its chairman since 2010.

He has also chaired the Economic Regulators Network since 2011.

British business secretary Vince Cable said Mr Chisholm's "expertise in economic regulation and wider experience in business and the public sector will play a crucial role strengthening the UK's world-class competition regime.

"There are substantial economic benefits from a tough regime cracking down hard and quickly on cartels and monopolies."

The new UK competitions regulator is being created from a merger of the Competition Commission and the Office of Fair Trading, which was headed by Irishman John Fingleton until he announced his decision last year to step down.