After 16 years of continual expansion, Network Ireland, the organisation for women in business, is turning professional.

Founded in 1983 to support the advancement of women in business, the professions and the arts, the organisation has just appointed its first full-time national director.

Ms Elaine Dowdall, who was formerly administrator of Navan Chamber of Commerce, says one of her priorities will be to develop strong links with FAS and enterprise boards throughout the State to ensure members are aware of the resources available to them.

Her appointment is seen as a key step towards the achievement of the organisation's strategic aims - including an increase in membership of 75 per cent by 2001.

It already has more than 1,000 members and several new branches are preparing to join the 15 in existence.

Network's national president, Ms Elizabeth O'Mahony, believes its continued growth gives the lie to any suggestion that an organisation for women in business is an anachronism in this age of equality.

"I think the membership figures speak for themselves," she said. "They show we have an awful lot to offer women that they're not getting in other quarters."

The organisation was established to help women develop the networks which are essential to carrying on business.

Those involved say that men, through their membership in greater numbers of sporting and social organisations, have more opportunities to make new contacts than women, many of whom divide their time between work and home.

"Network is not just a business organisation," said Ms O'Mahony, who is administration manager for Pricewaterhouse Coopers in Waterford. "It's a friendship organisation and that's how contacts are made.

"We give women the opportunity to take time out to meet people of like interests, who work in the same area and have the same problems, and to discuss them on a one-to-one basis without any particular agenda."

One of the benefits of membership is that women who find themselves alone on a business trip are encouraged to contact other Network members in the area where they're staying. The local members will come to meet them or organise for a friend to do so if they're not available.

Ms O'Mahony said it is not a problem for a businessman to go out or visit his hotel bar on his own, but the situation is different for women.

Membership of Network is varied, from women who are owner/managers of small and medium-sized businesses to those in management with multinational corporations.

The organisation seeks to address women's needs in two distinct stages of their development. It is a "support and confidence-building" body for women starting in business, the professions and the arts. Supports offered include training, mentoring and the provision of specialist expertise.

It is also a forum in which established women can develop professional and social contacts, said Ms O'Mahony.

Network's annual conference, with the theme "Winning ways of working - achieving success without selling your soul", takes place in the Tower Hotel in Waterford on October 15th and 16th. The conference, according to Ms O'Mahony, will show that it is possible to achieve a balance between working and living.

Ms Dowdall, the new national director, says her main objective is to communicate effectively and develop relationships with Network's members, to establish their needs and identify the issues affecting them.

The resulting analysis will be used to formulate policy documents for submission to the relevant State agencies and Government departments.