RADIO Ireland's chief executive, Mr Dan Collins, is almost certain to leave the station now that the tensions between him and other members of the team have become public.
It is known that the chairman, Mr John McColgan, has received two letters from Mr Collins's solicitors outlining his grievances and the problems he encountered.
Mr Collins has spoken to his lawyers and a public relations consultant. He is maintaining, probably on the advice of lawyers, that he is still chief executive. He turned up for work yesterday morning as usual.
Just a year ago the alliance between Mr McColgan and Mr Collins was seen as a media marriage made in heaven.
Last January when five consortia were battling for the national radio franchise, the Radio Ireland one was not a certainty.
Mr John McColgan and his wife and fellow promoter, Ms Moya Doherty, were the golden couple of Irish show business. Riverdance, which Ms Doherty had devised for the Eurovision Song Contest in the Point Theatre, was the greatest show on earth, at least for a time. Irish culture was being re-defined by the Riverdance phenomenon. They represented a young, confident, prosperous Ireland, but they had little radio experience.
In stepped Dan Collins. He was the chief executive of Radio Kerry, one of the most innovative stations in the country.
With Mr Collins on board, Radio Ireland was sure the Independent Radio and Television Commission would give it the licence. He was so important to the application _that his name was given to the Independent Radio and Television Commission in private, before he had resigned from Radio Kerry.
With Dan Collins in charge, the IRTC was convinced the national radio station was in the hands of a man with a proven track record, committed to public service radio and passionate about programme making.
From the start things did not go quite according to plan. Mr Patrick Kinsella, the head of news, who had outlined the consortium's plans to the IRTC, left the group, preferring to teach journalism at Dublin City University.
The station's share-holding has changed radically, with two publishers, Thomas Crosbie Holdings (the Examiner) and the Farmers' Journal, pulling out. Scottish Radio holdings, an unsuccessful applicant for the licence, has taken up a 15 per cent share-holding.
There were problems getting personnel with the required experience. While the other media were concerned about RTE's big names being attracted to the new station, Mr Collins was having problems getting a head of news and other senior broadcasters.
Partly this was due to the caution engendered by the collapse of Century Radio, Radio Ireland's predecessr, in 1991. It is believed that RTE's Richard Crowley and David Davin Power were approached, as was Jimmy Greeley, now with 98FM. All three had been with Century and were reluctant to take the risk again.
Even two weeks ago when the station's weekday schedule was announced, it was noted that many of the big names, Emily O'Reilly, Eamon Dunphy and Anne Marie Hourihane, have other jobs in case the unthinkable happens.
Mr Collins failed to ensure Radio Ireland would get the contract to supply news to the country's 21 local stations. Some sources hold that Radio Ireland simply took it for granted that it would inherit that right from Century Radio.
However, it became known that Mr Andrew Hanlon, the head of Ireland Radio News, the local service of the Dublin station, 98 FM, was working on a service to be owned by the local stations. Ironically, this was one of Mr Collins's ideas when at Radio Kerry. Last week all the local stations signed up for the new service, which will probably go on air in May.
This was a major disappointment. It robbed Radio Ireland of subscription income and a system of local news from radio stations around the country.
It is believed that while Mr McColgan was seeking on-air talent, Mr Collins was concerned to have in place a management structure for broadcasting. Mr McColgan started to act like an executive chairman, involved in day-to-day planning.
It is now clear that Mr Collins's differences are with the promoters of Radio Ireland and not any of the staff, many of whom he hired himself.
Rumours that things were not quite as they appeared reached the IRTC. The chief executive, Mr Michael O'Keeffe, checked out those rumours a few weeks ago and was assured there was no foundation for them.
It is believed that some members of the IRTC only realised how great were the problems when reports appeared in the newspapers and on RTE yesterday. It is also believed they are annoyed that they have been kept in the dark about Radio Ireland.
Mr McColgan and Mr Collins between them managed to exorcise the ghost of Century Radio. Events over the next few days will probably bring it back again.
. A statement from Radio Ireland issued last night said the station "was surprised at some media reports that there are conflicting views in Radio Ireland on the content of programming". It said such reports were a "total misrepresentation of the facts" and that programming policy had the "full approval and support of the board and the IRTC".
A spokesman for Mr Dan Collins also said there was no dispute about programming policy between him and anyone else on the station's board.