John Herlihy is to stand down from his role in Google.

Mr Herlihy has overseeen the setting up of the company in Ireland, growing the workforce from 50 to 2,500 in the last 10 years.

He will leave Google at the end of April and will take time out to consider new challenges.

Ronan Harris, Google President for Large Customer Sales in Europe, Middle East and Africa will take over the role.

In a statement John Herlihy said "on a personal level it has been a tremendous experience but after ten years, I believe the time is right for me to explore new opportunities and I'm looking forward to taking some time out while I consider my next challenge.

"I'm delighted that Ronan Harris will now lead Google's EMEA operations in its next phase of growth."