{"id":73323,"date":"2025-10-11T06:34:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-11T06:34:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/73323\/"},"modified":"2025-10-11T06:34:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-11T06:34:07","slug":"ray-darcy-and-team-caught-off-guard-by-rte-decision-not-to-renew-contract-sources-say-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/73323\/","title":{"rendered":"Ray D\u2019Arcy and team caught off guard by RT\u00c9 decision not to renew contract, sources say \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Presenter Ray D\u2019Arcy<\/a> and his team were caught off guard by RT\u00c9\u2019s<\/a> decision not to renew his contract, sources within RT\u00c9 Radio have said. <\/p>\n

D\u2019Arcy\u2019s sudden departure<\/a> came as a surprise to many people in the national broadcaster, even those who worked closely with him. His contract was due to expire at the end of the year but he expected it would be renewed.<\/p>\n

Some RT\u00c9 staff only found out he would not be returning as his show went on air without him on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

The Irish Times understands D\u2019Arcy (61) had a meeting with senior radio management earlier this week to discuss a renewal of his contract However, the discussions quickly broke down. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0RT\u00c9\u2019s new schedule a hurried defensive reflex to the sour taste left by Ray D\u2019Arcy exitOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

It is not clear if RT\u00c9 failed to offer D\u2019Arcy a new contract or offered him a different time slot for a reduced salary. In 2022 and 2023, the presenter was paid \u20ac250,000, down from \u20ac450,000 in 2019.<\/p>\n

D\u2019Arcy said on Thursday he was \u201chugely disappointed<\/a>\u201d with how RT\u00c9 management handled his departure. He had presented The Ray D\u2019Arcy Show on Radio 1 since February 2015 and hosted his final show on Wednesday. <\/p>\n

Speaking on his RT\u00c9 Radio 1 show on Friday morning, host Oliver Callan<\/a> said he felt \u201cterrible\u201d for D\u2019Arcy and his team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel terrible for Ray and I feel worse for his production team, who had no idea of what was happening, I imagine, and now don\u2019t know what job they have,\u201d Callan said.<\/p>\n

Just hours after D\u2019Arcy\u2019s departure was announced, the arrival of Kieran Cuddihy<\/a> at RT\u00c9 was confirmed. Cuddihy, who has presented The Hard Shoulder on Newstalk<\/a> since 2020, is set to replace Joe Duffy<\/a> as the host of Liveline. <\/p>\n

He is the second Newstalk figure to transfer to RT\u00c9 Radio in recent months.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Ray D\u2019Arcy\u2019s parting outburst not typical of broadcaster who shunned the limelightOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

In August, RT\u00c9 announced the appointment of Mark Simpson to the role of managing editor at Radio 1. He worked at Newstalk for more than 20 years on several shows, including The Hard Shoulder.<\/p>\n

Patricia Monahan became RT\u00c9\u2019s director of audio in July 2024. She also worked at Newstalk for more than two decades, serving as managing editor at the station for over seven years.<\/p>\n

Speaking on Radio 1 on Friday, Monahan answered a wide set of questions about a schedule overhaul at RT\u00c9 Radio 1. Asked whether the broadcaster has been unfair to D\u2019Arcy, she said: \u201cWith change of this scale, there are always difficult conversations to be had, and that\u2019s never easy for anybody.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is obviously not part of our future plans and that is never an easy thing or communication to have with somebody but, like I said, we wish him very well,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She would have had \u201cno problem\u201d with D\u2019Arcy saying goodbye on air, but \u201cdifferent people choose to deal with that in different ways\u201d.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0RT\u00c9\u2019s new schedule a hurried defensive reflex to the sour taste left by Ray D\u2019Arcy exitOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

She thanked D\u2019Arcy and his team for their contribution over the last 11 \u201cbrilliant\u201d years.<\/p>\n

Collie Ennis, biodiversity officer with Trinity College Dublin<\/a>, regularly contributed to wildlife segments on D\u2019Arcy\u2019s programme.<\/p>\n

He said he \u201cdidn\u2019t have a clue\u201d the show was ending and heard the news via the media on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was obviously very sad to hear because I really liked working with Ray. He\u2019s always been super kind to me. The team are always fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ennis said it is a shame D\u2019Arcy did not have a farewell show. The presenter deserved this after \u201c11 years of service\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m sure he\u2019ll be in demand elsewhere,\u201d Ennis said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Presenter Ray D\u2019Arcy and his team were caught off guard by RT\u00c9\u2019s decision not to renew his contract,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":73324,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60,24561,24562,32975,6085],"class_list":{"0":"post-73323","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-kieran-cuddihy","12":"tag-newstalk-radio","13":"tag-ray-d-arcy","14":"tag-rte"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73323\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}