AID CHARITY GOAL has this evening announced the appointment of former junior minister Barry Andrews as its new chief executive.

The former Dún Laoghaire TD, who is currently Fianna Fáil’s director of elections for the Children’s Rights referendum, will take up his position shortly.

Andrews, 45, who is a son of former minister David Andrews and a cousin of broadcaster Ryan Tubridy, succeeds John O’Shea at the helm of the charity which O’Shea himself founded in 1977.

GOAL chairman Pat O’Mahony said Andrews would begin his tenure by meeting with international donors, governments and senior staff in the 12 countries in which the body operates.

He said Andrews had been appointed by an interview panel featuring Senator Martin McAleese, HR consultant Mary Murphy, and the former senior civil servant at the Department of Justice, Tim Dalton.

Andrews said he was “delighted” to take up the role and hoped “to build upon the historic legacy of my predecessor”.

O’Shea, 68, announced his retirement as chief executive in July after settling High Court action taken by the charity’s board of directors to stop them from having him removed. He had rejected claims of “institutionalised bullying” within the organisation.

Andrews is not the first former Fianna Fáil TD to move full-time into the NGO sector: his fellow former junior minister Peter Power was last year appointed as the executive director of UNICEF Ireland.

His appointment at GOAL is likely to signal the end of Andrews’ political aspirations; the former junior minister for Children’s appointment as Fianna Fáil’s director of elections had been seen by some as an indication that Andrews could remain politically active.

Andrews was one of dozens of Fianna Fáil TDs to lose their seats in the 2011 general election, with both himself and tourism minister Mary Hanafin losing their seats as Dún Laoghaire went from a five-seat to a four-seat constituency.

Read: John O’Shea to leave GOAL after High Court action is settled