The director of the Hunt Museum in Limerick, Mr Ciaran MacGonigal, has decided not to renew his contract when it expires on April 30th.
Mr MacGonigal said yesterday it had been "great fun" but after three years it was time to pass the baton to somebody else. He intended to write a number of books, work on a film project and adapt a play of his mother's.
The Hunt Museum opened in the refurbished Custom House in February 1997 with more than 2,000 works of art and antiquity handed over to the State by the late John and Gertrude Hunt.
The board said yesterday that Mr MacGonigal had carried out excellent work and they acknowledged his assistance in establishing a museum of major standing.
Mr MacGonigal, a former Irish Times columnist, is also a former director of the RHA Gallagher Gallery. He was a director of the National Gallery for 10 years and a member of the Arts Council for five.
He is a member of the stamp design committee of An Post.