THE Board of Radio Ireland has approved the appointment of Mr Dick Hill as its new chief executive.
Mr Hill's appointment has also been approved by the Independent Radio and Television Commission allowing the final contract between the two organisations to be signed this morning.
Mr Hill is a former director of television at RTE and was a founding controller of Network 2 when it came on air in 1977.
He succeeds Mr Dan Collins whose contract with Radio Ireland was terminated two weeks ago.
Mr Collins was let go from the station following irreconcilable differences between him and the chairman of the board, Mr John McColgan, which came to light three weeks ago.
It is believed that while negotiations on a settlement are continuing between Radio Ireland and Mr Collins, summonses have been issued and Mr Collins's dismissal could go to the High Court next week if agreement is not reached.
Mr Hill (57) was born in Kinsale, Co Cork. He left RTE in 1986 to become general manager of the Cork Opera House. He also started the independent production company, COCO Productions in Cork but ceased to have any interest in that company when it moved to Dublin.
In, recent years he has been living in Goleen, west Cork, while running a new production company, Peripheral Vision, which is based in Skibbereen.
Two weeks ago the IRTC met the board of Radio Ireland to discuss the crisis at the station and it was agreed that a committee of the IRTC would review the management structures of the station. The IRTC was angry at how events had unfolded and it is understood that commission members had wanted Mr Collins to head up the station.
The decision yesterday by the IRTC to approve the appointment of Mr Hill means the last outstanding issue between the commission and the radio station has now been solved.
The signing of the agreement today will allow the station to commence test transmissions before its launch on St Patrick's Day.
The IRTC granted the national radio franchise to Radio Ireland a year ago. Since then there have been a number of major changes to the shareholding as well as delays in getting the station on air.
The crisis that precipitated the dismissal of Mr Collins is believed to have started just before Christmas when Mr McColgan and other members of the original promoters of the station became convinced that preparation for the March 17th launch were behind schedule and endangered the plans to get the station on air.