A SERIOUS problem has arisen in the senior management ranks of Radio Ireland, with the chief executive, Mr Dan Collins, under pressure to relinquish his post only a few weeks before the new station comes on air on St Patrick's Day.
He has taken legal advice aimed at securing his position, and is maintaining that he remains chief executive.
It is understood that Mr Collins has not been dismissed, but that Radio Ireland wants him to leave his job as chief executive and take some other position at the station.
Radio Ireland will fill the gap left by the former national station, Century Radio, which collapsed some years ago.
Mr Collins sat side by side with the Radio Ireland chairman, Mr John McColgan, only two weeks ago when the station announced its programme schedules. The station's line-up of presenters includes Eamon Dunphy, Anne-Marie Hourihane, Emily O'Reilly and Johnny Giles.
Mr Collins was formerly the highly successful chief executive of Radio Kerry and is a former RTE producer. During his time in Kerry, he became an increasingly influential spokesman for the radio industry.
In the past three weeks, tensions increased between Mr Collins and a number of senior executives in the company. Mr McColgan took on the role of executive chairman, exercising a hands-on involvement in preparing the station to go on air.
Other members of the Radio Ireland consortium have also been involved in day-to-day operations. Some have taken part in staff interviews.
It is believed that some executives had started to fear during the last few weeks that the station might not be ready to go on air on March 17th as planned.
Mr Collins, it is understood, was frustrated at lack of funding to put in place elements he believed were necessary. Among other things, it is understood Mr Collins wanted money spent on market research, but this did not take place.
Mr Collins has always been a champion of public service radio and believes that commercial radio can also have a public service role. Many members of the Independent Radio and Television Commission may have been comforted that a man with Mr Collins's views was in charge of the national commercial radio station. But some people involved in Radio Ireland may have wanted a more populist approach to programming than Mr Collins was prepared to embark upon.
It was noted by many critics that, at the launch of the weekday programme schedule on January 28th, there were no radio drama slots or documentaries - aspects favoured by Mr Collins.
If there is a change at the top of Radio Ireland at this stage, it will have to be approved by the IRTC. The IRTC has already allowed quite major changes in the shareholding of the station, including the withdrawal of Thomas Crosbie Holdings, the publisher of the Examiner, which held IS per cent of the equity, and the Farmers' Journal, which also pulled out.
Mr McColgan was unavailable for comment last night. A spokesman for Radio Ireland said the company had no comment.
