The new chief executive of the National Tourism Development Authority (NTDA) has been announced.
Mr Shaun Quinn will take up his new role in time for the start of the 2003 tourist season.
The NTDA will assume responsibility for tourism development and marketing from Bord Fáilte and CERT and will operate under the name Fáilte Ireland. Legislation to establish the authority has recently been introduced into the Senate.
This legislation follows the establishment of Tourism Ireland, an all-island agency set up under the Belfast Agreement.
Mr Quinn (40) was appointed by the Minister for Arts, Sport and Tourism Mr O'Donoghue.
"This appointment is a pivotal appointment in the new institutional arrangements which I am putting into place to oversee the development of the tourism industry in Ireland at the dawn of a new century," Mr O'Donoghue said.
In October 1998 Mr Quinn appointed chief executive of CERT. Prior to joining CERT, he with Bord Bia and is a graduate of University College Dublin, where he obtained an MBA from and studied agricultural economics.