Mr Joe Mulholland's announcement that he will retire as managing director of RTE Television ends a management career that has been punctuated by controversy and acclaim.
After a decade as a television producer and director, during which he won several awards for his documentaries, Mr Mulhol land began his management career in 1980, when he became Current Affairs Editor and Editor of Today Tonight.
While there, he developed a reputation for hard work and getting his own way. Variously described by colleagues at the time as bright, energetic and arrogant, he pulled current affairs out of the doldrums in RTE. Today Tonight became one of the station's most successful programmes. While the programme was praised for its coverage of property and mining scandals and social affairs, its coverage of Northern Ireland was frequently criticised as weak.
Within three years of being appointed, Mr Mulholland felt so frustrated with the lack of resources he tendered his resignation as editor of Today Tonight. He withdrew it after his superiors agreed to give current affairs greater priority and he remained in the position for the rest of the 1980s. After a brief spell as controller of external productions, he was appointed director of news in 1990, serving there for seven years until he was appointed to his current position.
Over the last year of Mr Mulholland's stewardship, RTE television has been plagued by controversy. Pat Kenny's succession of Gay Byrne as presenter of the flagship Late Late Show has not gone smoothly, and the programme has lost a substantial number of viewers.
Mr Mulholland also came under fire for the decision to replace weather forecasters with presenters who were not meteorologists, a decision he eventually had to reverse in the face of intense public opposition.
The most virulent criticism of RTE's television programming came over the Christmas/new year period when the station's New Year's Eve programming and live coverage of the solstice at Newgrange were panned by critics and members of the public. The resignation last month of Ms Helen O'Rahilly, who was effectively Mr Mulholland's deputy, is thought to have precipitated Mr Mulholland's departure.
Born in Ballybofey, Co Dongeal, in 1940, Mr Mulholland received his third-level education at a teacher-training college in Manchester. When he graduated, he went to Nancy, France, to do a doctorate in French Literature. There he met and married his wife, Annie, a French national.
In an article for this newspaper earlier this year, it was clear Mr Mulholland felt things were about to reach a crux in RTE.
"RTE has the talent, expertise and creativity to serve the Irish public in the new millennium and serve it well. However, it cannot be assumed that it will do so unaided and left simply to market forces. Broadcasting is a service like education and health. It is provided to people irrespective of their status or whether they are rich or poor."
Mr Mulholland says he will work on in his position until October, after which he will concentrate on documentary making, work on the arts and spending time with his family.
