David McDonnell, chief executive officer of Grant Thornton International has announced the merger between Grant Thornton's Irish member firm and RSM Robson Rhodes in Ireland, which follows on from the merger of Grant Thornton UK LLP and the UK division of RSM Robson Rhodes LLP.

The merger creates a firm with the depth of resource, expert capability and market credibility to make it the leader in its chosen marketplaces. The new organization will now operate as Grant Thornton Ireland, as the merger was completed on 1 July 2007.

The enlarged firm provides Grant Thornton International with an even stronger member firm in Ireland, significantly enhancing the organization's competitive position within this key high growth market. The merger firmly establishes Grant Thornton Ireland as Ireland's 6th largest accounting and business advisory group based on fee income with more than 400 partners and staff, operating from 3 locations.

Ireland is one of the fastest growing international financial services hubs, and has built a formidable regulatory and fiscal platform for attracting and servicing international asset management, global banking, cash management, leasing and asset securitization. In addition to creating one of the strongest accounting and advisory groups in the Irish corporate market place this merger creates a compelling multi-disciplinary offering to the international asset management, insurance and banking sectors.

Managing Partner of Grant Thornton Ireland, Paul Raleigh, said: "This merger allows us to make further inroads into the markets which were traditionally the preserve of the Big Four firms. We are already involved in specialist projects, like business risk services and tax, for global companies. Financial services will be a key market for us and we can build on the good work done by other member firms, particularly in the US and UK."

David McDonnell, chief executive officer of Grant Thornton International said, "This expansion is exactly the sort we envisaged within the global strategy of Grant Thornton International and will send a strong message to the wider market of our commitment to develop and grow our global organization."