RTÉ denies it is closing its Washington office
A cameraman and producer, still under contract to the national broadcaster, will remain at the office but there will be no broadcast journalist on site for the coming months.
Instead, Dublin-based journalists will fly to the US when a major story breaks.
Yesterday, a spokesman for RTÉ confirmed that Richard Downes will return to Dublin as he had come to the end of his contract.
Mr Downes moved to Washington in May 2010.
RTÉ says it will be advertising internally for a Washington correspondent in the coming weeks. It would not confirm or deny whether it wanted to have the journalist in the US by the new year.
Prior to moving to the US, Mr Downes worked in RTÉ’s Dublin office and before that with the BBC, Associated Press, and Reuters — roles that saw him posted to locations such as Iraq, Israel, and South Africa.
His 2006 book, In Search of Iraq: Baghdad to Babylon, chronicled his time in the war-torn nation.
Meanwhile, RTÉ has scotched reports that it is to reopen its London office, less than a year after it was shut. A spokeswoman said there are “currently no plans to open it but this is being regularly reviewed”.
The closure saw London correspondent Brian O’Connell leave RTÉ. He has since taken a job at Concern Worldwide.
