A Circuit Court judge has been appointed chairman of the Abbey Theatre.
Judge Bryan McMahon, the son of the late Abbey playwright Bryan McMahon, was appointed to the helm of the National Theatre by Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism John O'Donoghue.
"I am delighted that Bryan McMahon has agreed to accept this extremely important position," the minister said.
"He is steeped in the literary and artistic tradition and brings an extremely high level of professional expertise to the role.
"The Abbey Theatre has a special resonance for people here at home and right throughout the world, and is embarking on a new era that will be challenging, but also offers enormous promise."
The advisory council of the theatre recently approved measures which will allow for radical change in the way it is run.
The committee passed resolutions allowing the dissolution of the National Theatre Society and its replacement by a new limited company without shareholders. The society had run the Abbey since its foundation in 1904.
The move follows a financial crisis at the theatre, which sustained losses of €1.85 million last year.