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RTE to move Sligo studio onto IT Sligo campus

RTÉ has announced that its regional operations in Sligo, Dundalk, Galway, Athlone and Waterford are to move to local institutes of technology.

The moves come under a partnership arrangement aimed at saving over €1m a year.

The station said there would be no job losses and all regional correspondents will continue to provide extensive coverage from their existing regions.

However, some other staff roles will be reviewed.

The presidents of the five Institutes of Technology in Sligo Athlone, Waterford, Galway/Mayo and Dundalk have welcomed the new partnerships with RTÉ, which will be implemented by January 2013.

Professor Terri Scott, President of Institute of Technology, Sligo said that “As a key driver of innovation and economic growth in our region, IT Sligo welcomes the opportunity to partner with RTÉ in servicing the current and future needs of the North West. We are excited about the mutual benefits that will emerge from working together:”

RTÉ offices in Cork and Limerick will be maintained but the size of the Belfast office will be reduced.

Nationwide will remain at its Cork base, with the new afternoon programme Today broadcasting from there from November.

In Limerick, both the regional office and the Lyric FM operation remain in place.

The station plans to advertise immediately for the post of Western Correspondent, which has been vacant since Jim Fahy retired in January.

As part of the restructuring, journalists have already been redeployed from Cork, Limerick and Belfast to Dublin.

Nuacht staff have moved from Donnybrook to Connemara.

From January, Nuacht Radio will broadcast from Casla - which will also be the base for the first-ever Irish language online unit.

In addition, RTÉ has accepted an invitation to participate with Limerick County VEC in the country's first secondary school media studies course at Coláiste Chiaráin, Croom, Co Limerick.

The Breakfast with Hector programme on RTÉ 2fm is also in discussions with GMIT as part of the new initiative.

RTÉ said the initiative continued RTÉ's policy of seeking new external partnerships over the next five years.

It said the changes would place RTÉ at the centre of technological and educational innovation and link it to a future generation of media industry leaders.

Over the next few weeks, joint working groups will be established between each IT and RTÉ to look at the range and potential of these new relationships.

RTÉ anticipates that these new partnerships in the regions will complement those already established by the organisation with other third level institutions.

Currently, RTÉ News has annual work placement programmes with DCU, UL and NUIG.

There are also existing relationships between Nuacht RTÉ and NUIG, involving internships and input into courses.

It has also established an internship programme for Irish language students with DCU and UCD.

It was also revealed today that RTÉ embracing new technology with the first news report filmed on an iPhone and edited on a Tablet was broadcast on a recent news bulletin.