THERE is probably no good time to become RTE's director general. As the national broadcaster, it is in a sensitive position and is bound to attract more than its fair share of criticism.

The post of director general at his time must appear to be a poisoned chalice - but there was no shortage of those willing to drink from it.

Mr Bob Collins, who takes over he £60,000 a year post in April, when Mr Joe Barry retires, is more aware than most of what RTE is facing over the next few years. As assistant director general since 1995, he has been out there defending public service television in the face of increasing hostility towards what is seen as a smug monopoly.

He has been facing the public defending a radio and television's dice that seems as if it has been relatively unchanged for years an ill hugely dependent on the old reliables: The Late Late Show, Gay Byrne on radio, Marian Finucane on Liveline and Pat Kenny on morning radio and on television every Saturday night.

Mr Collins is committed to public service broadcasting, i.e. broadcasting that has a role in democratic society, that is not first and foremost commercial venture and that is available to all - not just to those who pay a subscription.

Many in RTE will welcome the appointment of someone seen as much a staunch defender of public service broadcasting. Talk of privatising parts of RTE's service over the past decade and the increase in competition have made staff at Montrose nervous. They fear a prevailing mood that is critical of RTE.

At least in Mr Collins, they will have a director general who will argue for the values inherent in public service broadcasting.

However, a belief in public service broadcasting will not pay the bills and Mr Collins takes over when RTE is facing a severe financial crisis. The surplus of £14.8 million, reported in the last annual report, hides the fact that RTE is in reality running at a loss. Much of the surplus was generated by a one off windfall due to the sale of 15 per cent of Cablelink.

However, the accounts show a deficit on the organisation's core business, broadcasting, of £2.43 million - and no prospect of reversing that trend without stringent cuts.

CUTS in budgets are never welcomed, but cutbacks at this time are even more problematic. RTE radio is about to face competition from a new national radio service, Radio Ireland, which is targeting RTE 1's audience.

It has stated it will appeal to adults between the ages of 25 to 45 years of age, the most prosperous and attractive group for advertisers.

The attack could come on other fronts; the TV3 consortium has not given up hope of securing strong investment despite UTV's decision to pull out last year.

RTE is in something of a catch 22. Should TV3 succeeds in attracting the necessary finance, it will offer home grown competition for the first time. Should it fail, the debate about the privatisation of Network 2 could intensify.

Even without TV3, RTE is about to face more competition than it has ever known. Next March, Britain's TV5 will go on air. It is likely to be offered on cable systems throughout the State. Soon after TV5's launch, it is expected that BSkyB will launch about 200 new digital television services. The effect on RTE will not be immediate. Viewers will need satellite receivers and the set top black box.

But the cable system, with limited spare capacity, will welcome at least some of these services, as digital transmission will allow a greater number of channels than is possible with the traditional analogue systems.

SORTE finds itself facing still more rigorous competition at a time when the financial pressures are intense. There are other pressures growth in the number of channels will push up the cost of acquiring programmes at the international sales conferences - at a time when RTE only achieved an £8 licence fee increase.

The implications seem clear. RTE could become still more dependent on advertising income.

In the interim, there is the promise of broadcasting legislation, which will be introduced shortly.

The Minister for Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht, Mr Higgins, it is assumed, will introduce new structures and will attempt to strengthen the notion of public service broadcasting, but he may not strengthen it in the way RTE would most like - with new funding.

RTE will not necessarily agree with the Minister's proposals and Mr Collins could find himself in conflict with Mr Higgins even before he officially takes over the director general's chair.

On the plus side, Mr Collins takes over when industrial relations are good, having recovered from the long period of bitterness that followed the strike of 1992. However, morale is not good and will hardly improve when staff see the effect of the budget cuts which will affect every area this year.

Mr Collins will also have to work hard to improve the overall quality of RTE's output. Talent management has always been a weakness within RTE, with a high reliance on stars. Some method will have to be found to allow new talent to come forward. In the 1990s, with multiple voices over the airwaves, RTE cannot simply rely on the old faithfuls.

Mr Collins will have to find means to encourage new talent.

The rapid pace of technological change also presents difficulties. The Green Paper on Broadcasting had little to say on the technology which is now driving television. Digital is expected to make television like magazines in a newsagent's, with hundreds of titles, some of them highly specialised and others more general. Obviously the question of who will control the new stations is of huge cultural importance.

The Government needs to make decisions about whether Ireland will develop its own terrestrial digital services, led by RTE, or whether Ireland becomes more integrated into Rupert Murdoch's empire than it is already.

If Mr Collins fails to convince the Government to take the necessary decisions to establish a regulatory framework for the introduction of terrestrial digital television, RTE could well find itself a small voice competing to be heard among hundreds.