Kevin Bakhurst to be asked to commit to RTÉ with BBC position open

Vivienne Clarke

Fianna Fáil TD Malcolm Byrne, who is a member of the Oireachtas committee on arts, media, and communications, has said he will push the director general of RTÉ, Kevin Bakhurst, to commit to the State broadcaster at a meeting of the committee today.

Now that the position of director general of the BBC was open, Mr Byrne told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland that he wanted Mr Bakhurst to remain at RTÉ to continue the work and changes he had started.

“One of the questions that I will be putting to him is I think, people will be aware that the director general job in the BBC has now become vacant. I will be putting it to him that he will continue to commit to staying here in RTE.

"I think he's been doing a good job, and I think the public recognise, given the difficulties in place here in the broadcaster when he came into the role, he has provided real leadership in difficult circumstances.

“And we do fully appreciate, our committee does fully appreciate the importance of public service broadcasting provided by RTÉ and others.

"We want to continue to support that, but we have to ensure value for money for the taxpayer.”