VETERAN ADVERTISING executive Pat Donnelly has been appointed head of media at Irish-owned agency McConnells Integrated.

Mr Donnelly was a founder and chief executive of Aegis Media, one of Ireland’s biggest media-buying groups.

He retired from the company in 2005 and became chairman of Channel 6, the Irish television station that struggled for ratings and was acquired by TV3 in 2008 for practically nothing.

Mr Donnelly invested more than €500,000 in Channel 6, which secured €14 million from private investors.

Mr Donnelly will be head of media buying and media planning across all platforms at McConnells and MCM.

His appointment is expected to be announced in the coming days.

The Dublin-based agency, which is controlled by Stuart Fogarty, is one of the biggest players in the Irish market.

Mr Donnelly established a link with McConnells in January last year when it set up a joint venture with Publicis Groupe Media.

This involved McConnells MCM, AFA Precision, ZenithOptimedia, Mediavest and Starcom combining their media buying activities in a company called Core Media Group.

Mr Donnelly took on the role of executive chairman and is also a small shareholder in the venture.

Accounts filed recently for McConnells Advertising Ltd show it made a profit of €1.3 million on turnover of €35.6 million in 2008.

This compared with a surplus of €4.3 million on sales of €40.4 million the previous year.