When IDA Ireland board members started the hunt for a new chief executive earlier this year, they knew exactly what they weren't looking for: someone trying to be Kieran McGowan. Because they accepted that after he had brought net annual job creation from less than 1,000 in 1991 to more than 10,000 in 1997, not even Kieran McGowan could match Kieran McGowan's record in the decade to come.

What the IDA needs now is someone who can correctly predict the future of every major industry, reform and retrain the agency's executives themselves, and develop and deliver a major industrial development policy shift in a way that is politically acceptable.

What it has got is Sean Dorgan.

At first glance, some feel the choice of Mr Dorgan looks inexplicable. He spent 22 years in the civil service before moving to head the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland. He described the world of accountancy as "very lively".

Some sources who have worked with Mr Dorgan are perplexed. "He is highly intelligent, but dogmatic," one said.

Others see Mr Dorgan's appointment forming part of what they see as a worrying trend, with senior civil servants taking over at the helm of semi-state companies. They point to other recent examples, such as Mr Michael McDonnell at CIE and Mr John Travers at Forfas.

Within the civil service, Mr Dorgan is remembered as a "details man", one who reads all memos and documents thoroughly and never goes to a meeting without being completely prepared.

"If anyone is trying to pull a fast one on him, they'd be trying to pull it on the wrong guy," one source said. "He has almost a Department of Finance approach - he always looks for and will find the downside of any potential decision."

Another, pressed on what makes Mr Dorgan's eyes light up, replied "Nothing. Nothing can do that."

But when the IDA board members looked at Mr Dorgan, they saw a broader picture. One that matched their job description.

The agency was looking for four main characteristics. The new chief executive had to have an understanding of business, to be able to grasp quickly the core of the disk-drive industry one minute, and the pharmaceutical sector the next. He or she had to be a leader, to be able to motivate the agency's 280 staff. The person had to have top-notch communication skills, and be able to tell taxpayers through the news media, how the IDA was using their money wisely. And the new head had to understand and relate to the governmental system, to TDs and public servants.

More than all of this, the board was acutely aware that industrial development in Ireland was changing rapidly; soon Brussels will restrict severely the grants the IDA can offer companies. Today's technologies and the skilled jobs that go with them will become outdated, and skills shortages as well as wage pressures will take their toll.

What the board really wanted was someone who could score reasonably highly on its criteria, but also had a track record of managing fundamental policy change.

Suddenly, Mr Dorgan looked like the perfect fit. As Assistant Secretary at the Department of Industry and Commerce, he had served on the IDA board from 1988 to 1991. He travelled regularly on high-level trade missions, and participated in negotiations with some of the world's biggest companies.

Also from 1988, right up until 1995, he was on the board of the National Economic and Social Council.

As Secretary of the Department of Industry and Commerce, a position he held from 1991 to 1993, he was a driving force behind the Culliton Report, a study of all aspects of industrial policy. More than any other document, this report set the agenda for the Republic's industrial future.

"He will need to design a whole new industrial programme," says one IDA insider. "We're talking about constantly upgrading skills. Half the IDA's current business is already office-based work, not factory-based, and the progression will be towards services. If it is a high-value service, that's good. But we also have to be very careful we don't lose exports to an offshore system."

But some sources, while not doubting Mr Dorgan's track record, are adopting a wait-and-see approach.

"This is a huge task, it calls for highly-developed management skills and brilliant motivational skills, and there's nothing to suggest he has those attributes," one executive said this week.

One of the most urgent questions facing Mr Dorgan will be how quickly the Republic's infrastructure can be upgraded. In the past year, the current IDA chief, Mr McGowan, has gone on record as saying that the State's bad road network was effectively costing jobs, especially outside of Dublin.

Mr Dorgan will have to consider whether to press for a new terminal at Dublin Airport, to ensure ease and speed of access for business executives.

And with electronic commerce destined to play an increasingly important role in the decade ahead, Mr Dorgan will want to do everything he can to ensure the Republic maintains its edge in the technology sector. This will mean significant investment in telecommunications infrastructure, bringing the benefits of the information age to every business.

In an interview last April in The Irish Times, Mr Dorgan said that his civil service career had covered a number of departments.

"The 1970s was a particularly fascinating time, when I worked in the Department of Posts and Telegraphs. It provided great opportunities and was a tremendous education," he said.

In his task of redefining the focus of industrial policy, Mr Dorgan is likely to emphasise the need to "upgrade" IDA client companies, both in terms of the skills of their workers and the value added to their products or services.

Currently, sources say, there are less than 50 IDA staffers specialising in company development issues.

He starts work in his new role on January 1st.