Staff at RTÉ Radio yesterday expressed disquiet to senior management about planned changes to the station's radio schedules announced on Thursday.
Their concerns are understood to centre around the perceived lack of consultation with staff, and the future direction of radio programming at the State's national broadcaster.
However, senior executives are believed to have been unapologetic about the changes, which are due to be followed by further changes in the near future.
They told employees at a meeting, which was described as "edgy", that consultations with staff in the past had led to leaks to the media.
An e-mail to staff from the new head of RTÉ Radio 1, Ana Leddy, is also understood to have underlined that more changes are pending.
Among the members of senior management at yesterday's well-attended meeting with producers, researchers and other staff were Ms Leddy and the head of RTÉ Radio, Adrian Moynes. Broadcaster Gerry Ryan also addressed the gathering briefly.
Under the plans, several long-established programmes, including the afternoon arts show Rattlebag, hosted by Myles Dungan, The John Creedon Show, and John Kelly's Mystery Train, have been dropped from next autumn's schedules.
Joe Duffy's Liveline programme will be extended by 15 minutes, while Derek Mooney has been asked to host a new programme from 3-5pm, called Afternoon Ireland.
Similarly, the station's evening programme, Five Seven Live, will be replaced by a three-hour programme starting at 5pm, titled Drivetime.
Some sources in RTÉ yesterday claimed that the new afternoon schedule, featuring only two programmes between 3pm and 8pm on weekdays, would allow management to claim that their changes had prompted increases in the number of listeners.
This was because two long programmes would more likely achieve greater audience "reach figures" than a number of shorter programmes.
Meanwhile, Rattlebag presenter Myles Dungan said yesterday he was "on my way out anyway, temporarily, on unpaid leave".
Dungan, who still has 2½ years remaining on his contract, is due to take up a Fulbright scholarship to pursue his studies in history at the University of Berkeley, California, for at least four months from the beginning of 2007.
For contractual reasons, Dungan said he could not comment on the decision to drop the show, which he will continue to present until September.
"I presume that we will discuss in more detail what I will be doing when I come back from Berkeley," he said yesterday.
John Kelly told The Irish Times he already had a number of other offers which he is considering alongside his existing RTÉ commitments.
But he said the changes suited him, as a father of two young children.
"If you're playing on a team and they're leaving you on the bench, you join another team," he said. "This happens to people all the time in radio."
Ms Leddy was unavailable for comment yesterday.
RTÉ has yet to announce who will replace the presenter of Five Seven Live, Rachael English. Possible candidates are thought to include Philip Boucher Hayes, Áine Lawlor and Evelyn Ní Rourke.