The barrister and former Attorney-General Mr Dermot Gleeson has been appointed chairman-designate of AIB.

Mr Gleeson was appointed to the position of deputy chairman of the board at a meeting of directors yesterday. The chairman, Mr Lochlann Quinn, reaches the end of his second three-year term as president at the end of this year but is to stay on for another year in order to ensure a smooth transition.

Mr Gleeson was appointed to the board of AIB two years ago, in the wake of the Dáil DIRT inquiry, where he acted as counsel for the bank. He is a well-known and highly successful barrister who first came to public prominence during the beef tribunal, when he acted for Goodman International.

Mr Gleeson, from Cork, studied economics and politics in UCD where he was auditor of the university's Literary & Historical Society. He was 22 when he was called to the bar in 1970 and when he took silk eight years later, he was the youngest person in the State to become a senior counsel. He was Attorney-General during the 1994 to 1997 Coalition government. He has since returned to practising at the bar.

Mr Gleeson is one of the group of wealthy individuals who own the Four Seasons Hotel in Ballsbridge. He lives on Shrewsbury Road, Ballsbridge, is married and has four children.