Mulholland says he was unfairly identified with others' mistakes at RTE

Mr Joe Mulholland, who has announced he will resign as managing director of RTE television, said yesterday he has been unfairly identified with mistakes made by people working underneath him. He said he had become "overly identified" in the media with RTE's output.

"Mistakes were made by people in my division and under me which were perfectly understandable mistakes," he said. "These are small matters, blips of minutes in an output of thousands of hours. They have been blown out of all proportion."

Mr Mulholland said there was "no tension" between him and the RTE authorities following the announcement on Saturday evening that he would retire from his position in October. The announcement came after a week of speculation within the station about Mr Mulholland's position, which was discussed at last Friday week's meeting of the RTE Authority.

TG4's chief executive, Mr Cathal Goan (45), takes up the position of director of television at RTE this week. Mr Mulholland's current position of managing director, television, will be scrapped when he retires.

Speaking to The Irish Times yesterday, Mr Mulholland said the advent of digital television and the imminent appointment of a new RTE Authority meant it was time for young people to "take up the cudgels" at the higher levels of management in the station.

"I've been 30 years in RTE. I have been in very, very pressurised situations. I've had very little life to myself and certainly very little life for my family. I felt my 60th birthday was the time to look at my life.

"I want to devote more time to looking after my own health. Television is becoming an increasingly difficult environment. I think it probably needs young people to take up the cudgels."

Mr Goan will remain as chief executive of TG4 until his replacement is appointed, which will take at least three months. He said yesterday that being offered the job was "an honour" and he was "looking forward to the challenge".

Asked what his priorities would be, he said: "I haven't been in RTE for five years, so I'll have to familiarise myself with what's going on. I'll have to meet people and hear what they have to say." He will travel between Connemara and Dublin until his successor is appointed at TG4. Among the people thought likely to be in contention for his job are his deputy, Mr Padhraic O Ciardha; the station's head of news, Mr Michael Lally; and producer Mr Cillian Fennell.

In developing RTE's new digital services, Mr Goan will work with Mr Gerry Reynolds, who has been appointed controller, digital channels. Mr Reynolds is currently head of broadcasting in Cork.

Mr Mulholland described RTE yesterday as "a good organisation that's been unfairly treated in the media". He said criticism of the station was "sometimes fuelled by interest groups". He was happy to stand over his record. E Television.

"I would hope that I have done the State some service. The achievements are there. We're holding on to our market share. Our schedules are as vibrant as they've ever been, if not more so."

He said his resignation was not the result of a conflict between him and RTE management over budgets. "We're working under increasingly difficult circumstances in terms of finances but the budget has come in exactly on target. There's no question of budgetary mismanagement."

In a statement released yesterday, RTE said it "regrets Joe Mulholland's decision to stand down in October and is happy that he continue to make his services available to the organisation".

Mr Mulholland will continue his role as executive producer of the Samuel Beckett millennium project, which involves the screening of all of the Dublin playwright's works on RTE television.