The Office of Public Works has hired a high profile chairman in Maurice Buckley, currently chief executive of the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI). He is due to take up his full-time post before the end of the year.

He qualified from UCD with a Master's of Electrical Engineering and later completed an MBA degree in INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France. He worked in Germany for six years both in a technical role and as a management consultant for the Boston Consulting Group. Mr Buckley returned to Ireland during the 1990s to successfully establish a manufacturing company in Roscommon as a subsidiary of a German printing company. In 2007 he joined the NSAI as chief executive, taking responsibility for all the standards, metrology and worldwide certification services it offers.

He said he looked forward to taking charge of the OPW and bringing the mix of international business and management experience he could offer to further develop what was an excellent organisation managing Ireland’s portfolio of public buildings, both modern and heritage, as well as the currently topical area of floor risk management.