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Steve Carson is to step down from his role as head of ���˿��� Scotland.

Mr Carson will leave the corporation this autumn to take up a senior role in Dublin with the Irish public service broadcaster, RTÉ.

Originally from Belfast, he began his career with the ���˿��� before setting up an independent production company in Ireland.

Mr Carson became head of ���˿��� Scotland in 2020, taking on responsibility for leading 1,100 staff producing TV, radio and digital content across 13 centres.

Mr Carson, who will leave in September, said it had been the "honour of my life to serve as director" for the past four years.

He added: "This year, we have concluded a new partnership agreement with MG ALBA that will strengthen our key Gaelic services, established a new ���˿��� network Audio base and continued to evolve our crucial News service across platforms."

The outgoing director also said he was proud of how ���˿��� colleagues across Scotland pulled together to deliver vital services during the Covid pandemic and led the coverage of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth.

Born and brought up in Northern Ireland, where his late father Tom was a journalist on The Belfast Telegraph, Mr Carson graduated from Manchester University before joining the ���˿���.

In February 2009, he was appointed as director of programmes at RTÉ Television and re-joined the ���˿��� as head of ���˿��� Northern Ireland Productions in 2013.

After moving to Scotland as head of multi-platform commissioning in 2017, he was responsible for launching the ���˿��� Scotland TV channel two years later.

���˿��� director of nations Rhodri Talfan Davies said Mr Carson had been a "driving force in ���˿��� Scotland’s success over recent years".

Mr Davies added: "He is also a passionate and supportive colleague - intensely proud of the teams he leads across ���˿��� Scotland and deeply committed to the development of the Scottish production sector."

The search for Mr Carson's successor will begin immediately.