Two roles to replace senior content job

THE role held by RTÉ’s director of content is being advertised under two new titles despite the senior employee still being employed at the national broadcaster.

Jim Jennings has not returned to work for a number of months and has declined repeated invitations to appear before the Oireachtas Media and Public Accounts committee hearings to answer questions on a number of issues, due to health reasons. His position as director of content, one of the most senior in RTÉ, is now being replaced by two separate senior roles – director of audio and director of video.

This is despite the ongoing controversy around the recruitment freeze at the cash-strapped broadcaster as previously announced by its director general, Kevin Bakhurst.

However, RTÉ insists the roles are ‘critical’ for business. When asked if the new positions meant that Mr Jennings had left, a spokesman for the broadcaster told the Irish Daily Mail: ‘Jim Jennings is currently unable to return to work. He is still employed by RTÉ. The role of director of content is being divided into the two roles advertised, both of which are business critical.’

The spokesman also said the creation of these two roles will ‘allow the successful candidates to lead teams of manageable sizes which will enable improved engagement and communication with these teams’.

‘The previous suppression of the strategy role means there will be no net increase to the size of RTÉ’s leadership team which will be complete following these appointments,’ the spokesman added. The salaries of the two new roles have not been disclosed.