The RHA Gallagher Gallery has appointed a successor to Ciaran McGonigal, who resigned as director earlier this year to go to the Hunt Museum in Limerick. In November Pat Murphy will take up the post.

Murphy has been director of the ICA in Philadelphia since 1990. During the 1980s he played a pivotal role in the arts in Ireland, enjoying a highly productive spell as director of the Douglas Hyde Gallery, a job he went to from the Arts Council, where he was visual arts officer. "The RHA has the most excellent space and location in the city," he says. "The Academy's focus has traditionally been on drawing . . . We shall be continuing on that path, but not to the exclusion of the other media."