RTÉ HEAD of radio Clare Duignan has decided not to seek the post of director general with state broadcaster RTÉ.
Ms Duignan was considered by many as the favourite to succeed Cathal Goan, who decided in July to step down from the €326,000- a-year role.
Ms Duignan has been in the headlines recently, commenting on the high salaries paid to some RTÉ presenters and warning that funding cuts would affect its quality of programming.
Many saw this as a signal that she was positioning herself for a tilt at the director general job after 33 years with the broadcaster.
Instead, the Monaghan native has decided to continue in her role as managing director of radio at RTÉ, a position she assumed in February 2009.
She is also a member of RTÉ executive management team.
Today marks the final date for internal applications for the director general post. A “refresher note” was posted by RTÉ last week to staff reminding them of the deadline for the post.
The field of internal candidates has narrowed in recent weeks with RTÉ finance director Conor Hayes also ruling himself out of the running.
RTÉ is running a parallel search for external candidates. This is being led by recruitment consultants MERC Partners.
Mr Goan has agreed to remain at Montrose until February but it is understood the RTÉ board hopes to install a new director general before then.
Interviews for the job are expected to be held in the near future. RTÉ is expected to set up a sub-committee of the board to oversee this process.