London editor to leave RTÉ rather than transfer to Dublin after closure of bureau

RTÉ London editor Brian O’Connell is to leave the national broadcaster when RTÉ closes its decades-old London bureau at the end of next week, rather than accept a transfer to Donnybrook, it was announced last night.

RTÉ made the decision to close the office in a move to cut costs.

None of the bureau’s five staff have accepted offers of transfers to Dublin, though O’Connell, who joined RTÉ in 1981, is the only one of them to have been hired in Dublin. He moved to the London bureau in 1989. The closure has been condemned by Irish TDs and British MPs on the British-Irish Inter-Parliamentary Body, which paid tribute to the bureau’s “illustrious record of service”.

RTÉ political editor David Davin-Power posted a tweet last night saying: “My colleague Brian O’Connell leaving RTÉ . . . a gentleman and a great correspondent. A great shame he found himself in this position.”