RTÉ’s regional offices in Sligo, Dundalk, Athlone and Waterford are to remain in operation following a deal that will see them move premises to local institutes of technology.
Today’s announcement came as the station’s London office officially closed its doors following decades in business.
In a deal that is expected to save over €1m for the broadcaster, RTÉ says no regional staff will lose their jobs as they move into institute of technology premises.
This means RTÉ’s London office is the only premises to close its doors permanently, while it has been confirmed that the Belfast office will downsize.
Long-term RTÉ journalist and London editor Brian O’Connell, who has been with the station since 1981, and based in London since 1989, announced this month that he would not accept a transfer back to Dublin following the closure of the London bureau.
He is one of RTÉ’s four permanent London staff who have opted for redundancy rather than a transfer with RTÉ no longer employing any permanent staff in England.
Today’s announcement marks the beginning of RTÉ’s new planned external partnerships, as joint working groups will now be established between each IT and RTÉ to look at the range and potential of these new relationships.
The new plan will commence in January. RTÉ has already redeployed a number of journalists from Cork, Limerick and Belfast to Dublin as the restructuring process gets underway.
‘Nuacht’ staff have moved from Donnybrook to Connemara, while ‘Nuacht’ radio will be broadcast from Casla from now on.
RTÉ offices in Cork and Limerick will be maintained, with plans for the long-running lifestyle programme ‘Nationwide’ to remain in Cork as well as newly established day time show ‘Today’, which begins production in November.
President of Dundalk Institute of Technology Dr Denis Cummins welcomed today’s announcement.
He said: “We recognise the strategic importance to the North East region of having our national broadcaster RTÉ present and we are therefore delighted to be in a position to collaborate with them. In particular I see great benefits for our Film and Multimedia departments”.
