TERENCE O’ROURKE, THE current chair of the ESB, has been appointed as the new chairperson of the RTÉ board.

O’Rourke’s appointment has been approved by Cabinet. 

His predecessor Siún Ní Raghallaigh resigned after Martin’s appearance on RTÉ’s Prime Time programme last month, in which she failed to express confidence in her.

So, who is Terence O’Rourke and what experience does he have? Let’s take a look. 

O’Rourke is a chartered accountant from Inniskeen in Co Monaghan. 

He graduated from University College Dublin with a BA in History and Economics in 1975 after attending Castleknock College. 

In the same year, O’Rourke began his career as a trainee with KPMG before moving to accounting firm Peat Marwick in Boston in 1979 to take up the position of staff accountant. He worked there until May 1981. 

He was back with KPMG the following month and began working as an audit manager. He worked his way up to the position of managing partner by 2006 and remained in this position until his retirement in April 2013. 

During his time in KPMG, O’Rourke was President of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland between 2004 and 2005. He also served on a number of international boards for KPMG during his time as managing partner. 

O’Rourke has a lot of experience working with different organisations; he is currently chairman for Enactus Ireland, the Hugh Lane Gallery Trust,  Kinsale Capital Management and the ESB. 

He has been on the board of at least 12 organisations and he currently sits on the board of Kinsale Capital Management, Ballymore, McArdle Skeath, the Irish Film Institute and the Institute of International and European Affairs.

He previously chaired the 2015 Arts Council strategic review group, and was chairperson of boards of the Dublin Theatre Festival, Rethink Ireland, the Irish Management Institute and Enterprise Ireland. 

Further to his previous chairperson positions, O’Rourke sat on the boards of the Chartered Accountants Regulatory Board, Hibernia Reit plc and the Irish Times. 

He acted as a governing authority member for Dublin City University between 2013 and 2021. The university awarded O’Rourke with an honorary doctorate in 2023.

Speaking at the event, DCU vice president Professor Anne Sinnott said: “Throughout his career, Terence has demonstrated a commitment to public service. His voluntary contributions to the arts, education and other fields have had a real impact.

“He is someone who believes in people, who believes in encouraging and supporting them to reach their full potential. And while he has worked at the highest levels in business and other fields he has never lost the human touch or his sense of humour.”