Only two of the outgoing members of the board of the Irish Museum of Modern Art were re-appointed when the new board was named yesterday. The art critic, Ms Dorothy Walker, and the journalist, Mr Eoghan Harris, remain on the board.
The new chairman is Ms Marie Donnelly, the chairman of the Irish Hospice Foundation. She succeeds a retired businessman, Mr Maurice Foley.
The other appointments to the board are: Roy Bennett, managing director, Goodbody Stockbrokers; John Behan, a sculptor; Niall Crowley, chief executive, Equality Authority; artists Felim Egan, Hilary Gilmore and Lorraine Wall; fashion designer Louise Kennedy; senior counsel Eoin McGonigal; Helen O'Brien, vice-president of the Smurfit Group; former arts administrator Fiona O'Malley; managing director of Carr Communications Terry Prone; and Patrick Sutton, director of the Gaiety School of Acting in Dublin and a member of the Arts Council.
After paying tribute to the outgoing board yesterday evening, the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera, said: "I am confident that the new board, under the chairmanship of Marie Donnelly, with its range of cultural, management and business expertise and talent, will continue to develop the museum successfully."
Ms Donnelly has been fundraising for the hospice movement for 14 years and last year she oversaw the publication of The Whoseday Book, which raised over £2 million.
She said she looked forward to the challenges her new role offered her, adding: "I expect the board and I will continue to progress the work of the museum in projecting a higher global profile for Irish art and in welcoming the best of international contemporary art to this country."