Willie O’Reilly to leave RTÉ

RTÉ group commercial director Willie O'Reilly is to leave the broadcaster at the end of the year.

Mr O’Reilly (62) said he was not seeking another executive position in the media but planned to devote more time to roles in the charity sector.

“It’s a good time to move on,” he said, describing the move as an “executive retirement”.

“I came back to RTÉ in what I originally said would be a three-year stint, and three years became six years.”

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Mr O’Reilly also serves on the executive board of RTÉ.

He told colleagues: “It won’t come as a surprise to say the recent restructuring of RTÉ and its commercial division has been a time for reflection for myself.”

The broadcaster has been in the process of merging the sales teams for television, radio and digital into one division.

“This job is now nearly complete and the new year will see the commercial division in one location,” he said.

The former Today FM chief executive, who joined RTÉ in early 2012, has 105 people reporting to him on the commercial side of RTÉ.

He worked in broadcasting for more than 30 years both in the private sector and in RTÉ, where he was executive producer of The Gerry Ryan Show for a ten-year period.

During his time in Today FM he has managed changes of ownership from private individuals to Scottish Radio Holdings to Emap and then Communicorp.

A former president of the Institute of Directors, Mr O'Reilly is a director of the Irish Cancer Society and sits on its governance and nomination committee. He is also on the council of the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital in Dublin.

Departures

Mr O’Reilly is the most senior executive to leave RTÉ this year.

Dozens of departures from the organisation are scheduled to take place next Friday. The first wave of exits springing from RTÉ’s recent voluntary redundancy and early retirement scheme - designed to cut its future operational costs - will take place on that date.

Sheila de Courcy, RTÉ’s head of children’s content, is among those leaving. Ms de Courcy’s department was much-reduced at the start of 2017 when RTÉ cut its in-house production of kids’ television shows and replaced them with programmes made by the independent sector.