Dalata chief executive Pat McCann has been named as the new president of Ibec for 2019-2020.

In an address to the annual Ibec president’s dinner in Dublin on Friday, hotelier Mr McCann said the State needed to become “more ambitious” by investing in innovation, education and world-class infrastructure. He called on the Government to design policies in particular to address a decline in the international rankings of Irish universities.

“The latest Times Higher Education ranking has just one Irish university in the top 200 . . . We need greater autonomy for university leadership and more direct funding and investment to redress this ranking crisis, for that is what we consider it to be, and this must be a priority if a doom loop is to be avoided,” he said.