Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary says RTE should scrap popular shows like Joe Duffy’s Liveline

He listed Joe Duffy’s Liveline, the Louise Duffy Show, and reruns of EastEnders as the top of his chopping block if he had the choice

• 06:00, 15 SEP 2023

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Ryanair boss Michael O’Leary said he’d scrap some of RTE’s top shows including Joe Duffy’s Liveline if he was running RTE.

When asked how he would turn around the scandal-stricken public broadcaster, the airline CEO claimed RTE is “badly run”. He said there is “a lot of rubbish in there that needs to be cleaned out”.

Speaking to Sky News’ Stephen Murphy, Mr O’Leary said: “RTE is a bit like Aer Lingus used to be in the 1980s, you know, it is probably overstaffed and it is certainly badly run.

“Would I like to see RTE survive? Yes, clearly. I think the news area in RTE does a very good job, but there’s lots of areas in RTE that, frankly, if it disappeared tomorrow I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over it.”When asked to elaborate on his statement, he listed Joe Duffy’s Liveline, the Louise Duffy Show, and reruns of EastEnders as the top of his chopping block if he had the choice but was full of praise for others, including Claire Byrne.

He said: “Watching EastEnders and repeats of Joe Duffy’s religious programmes. Liveline would be a good starting point. But you know I think if you look at the Claire Byrne programme in the morning, it is terrific, [and] Morning Ireland is a great radio programme.”