Internationally renowned curator Mike Fitzpatrick has been appointed director of the Board of Limerick City of Culture.

The head of Limerick School of Art and Design, was appointed interim chief of the programme following the resignation of former CEO Patricia Ryan in January.

Ms Ryan, a former advisor to Pat Cox who is chairman of the Board of City of Culture, came under increasing pressure to resign after it emerged her €120,000 position was never advertised.

Her decision to finally step down on January 5th last followed the departure of artistic director Wallace Karl Wallace who resigned from the programme on the eve of its launch and the decision by two programmers to withdraw their services.

The board of Limerick National City of Culture 2014 this evening confirmed the appointment of Mike Fitzpatrick as Director.

This announcement follows the advertisement of the position and interviews in recent days.

Commenting on the appointment, Chairman of the Board Pat Cox said:

“We are delighted to have a candidate of the calibre of Mr Mike Fitzpatrick leading the year. We look forward to building on the success of the first quarter of the year, with Mike in charge for the remainder of the project in tandem with City of Culture team.”

Mr Fitzpatrick has accepted the offer of appointment subject to the agreement of Limerick Institute of Technology to extend the secondment.

When asked recently if he was happy the City of Culture programme was finally back on track, Mr Fizpatrick said:

“I’m really happy that there is a sense now that it has taken root and it’s really happening and I think we are going to make a seismic change in the region and that’s what this is about. What we need to do is grow ambition over the next number of years over what we want to do.”