Greencore has appointed Mr Tony Barry as its chairman for the next year, replacing Mr Bernie Cahill who stepped down two weeks ago after the annual general meeting vetoed a proposal to extend his term as chairman for a further year.

Mr Barry is the longest-running non-executive director on the Greencore board and it is understood he was the unanimous choice to serve as chairman until Greencore's next a.g.m. in February 2002.

It is believed Greencore will use the intervening period to find a long-term chairman who will take over from Mr Barry within a year.

Mr Barry (66) is a former chairman and chief executive of building materials group CRH. He is also a director of Bank of Ireland, distribution group DCC and exploration group Ivernia West, and is a past president of the employers' group, IBEC. He has been a member of the Greencore board since 1992.

Sources close to the company said Mr Barry had been selected as chairman due to his extensive experience in integrating mergers and acquisitions from his time with CRH.

One of the main tasks facing Greencore over the next 12 months is integrating its €582 million (£458.7 million) net acquisition of British consumer foods group Hazlewood Foods.

Originally, Greencore had proposed extending Mr Cahill's term as chairman beyond the retirement age of 70 so he could assist with the integration of Hazlewood, Greencore's biggest acquisition. But Mr Cahill's reappointment as chairman was blocked when the firm's biggest shareholder, Mr Dermot Desmond's IIU, prevented the required 75 per cent in favour of Mr Cahill's reappointment.

Greencore has also appointed two new executive directors, both of whom will be involved in the integration. They are the former chief executive of Greencore's Paramount Foods subsidiary in the UK, Mr Peter Woodall, and Mr Peter Kennedy.

Mr Kennedy (31) is group development manager of Greencore and will now have responsibility for rationalising the group following the Hazlewood acquisition. Greencore has indicated that it expects to generate asset sales from Hazlewood totalling £120 million (€152.4 million) and Mr Kennedy will be a key figure in generating these sales.

Greencore has already announced the appointment of Mr Tony Hynes as its new chief operating officer and he takes up his position in April. Mr Hynes is currently managing director of Green Isle, the Irish consumer foods arm of Northern Foods.