Downes lands RTÉ Washington job

Morning Ireland presenter Richard Downes has been chosen as  RTÉ's new Washington correspondent to replace Charlie Bird.

Mr Downes (45), a former BBC foreign correspondent in South Africa and Iraq, said he was a “surprised but rather delighted man” having only found out about his appointment shortly before it was made public by RTÉ.

He beat competition from some of the station’s best known broadcasters for the position which is regarded as one of the plum jobs in Irish journalism.

He is hoping to be able to take up his new role within six weeks with Mr Bird returning home to become chief news correspondent. The initial contract will be for two years.

Unlike his predecessor who has cited homesickness for his decision to return home early, Mr Downes has extensive experience as a foreign correspondent.

He covered the Iraq war in 2003 and was almost killed in an American bombing raid, even composing a farewell letter to his wife Mairead. His experiences were chronicled in his book In Search of Iraq which was published four years ago.

He has also reported from Zimbabwe.

“Reporting from a normal-type country will be quite a novelty,” he said. “It will be another type of challenge because I’m quite used to being in an extreme-type scenario and Washington is far from that.”

Mr Downes said he will not miss getting up in the middle of the night to present Morning Ireland though the programme does have its compensations.

“I’ve got a marvellous job. Being a presenter of one of the most popular programmes in Ireland is hardly hardship stations,” he said.

Mr Downes replaces Mr Bird who was RTÉ’s highest profile reporter when he took up the role of Washington correspondent in January 2009.

His contract was for four years but he announced publicly he was quitting in February saying that his decision to take the role in the first place was “madness” given his age (59) and his homesickness.

He did, however, make a two-part series about his time in Washington which attracted a large audience.

Mr Downes, who is married with two children and lives in north Dublin, said he was looking forward to being a foreign correspondent again.

“I would never go for a job that I was not able to do or that I could not give 100 per cent to. It has been a long time in my mind and it is a fantastic opportunity. They [RTÉ] have committed money to the position and I’m committed to make it work,” he said.