Pauw made 89 appearances for the Netherlands and has managed her native country, Scotland, Russia and South Africa.

Under caretaker boss, Tom O'Connor, the Girls in Green kicked off their Euro 2021 qualifying campaign with a 2-0 win over Montenegro yesterday.

Ms Pauw said: “I am very excited at the prospect of managing the Republic of Ireland Women’s National Team for the remainder of this European Championship campaign and I believe we can achieve very positive results together.

"I was impressed with what I saw versus Montenegro and I want to wish Tom well for his future career and thank him for the excellent job he has done with the Ireland team in recent weeks.”

She is the first Dutch woman to play professionally outside the country when she signed for Italian side Modena in 1988.

An instructor with FIFA and UEFA, the 56-year-old Pauw began her management career with Scotland in 1998 before she led the Netherlands to the European Championship Semi-Finals in 2009.