RTÉ anchorman Aengus Mac Grianna has announced that he’s leaving the station after 30 years.
The news anchor, who went viral after he was accidentally caught touching up his make-up and fixing his tie live on air back in 2013, will leave RTÉ in the new year.
According to the Sunday Independent, Aengus decided to take the voluntary redundancy package offered by bosses at Montrose, which reached its deadline last Friday.
“I told management over six months ago of my decision so this was decided long before any of the changes,” he told the paper. “I’ve had 30 wonderful years at RTE but it is time for a change.”
The reporter has no plans to retire, and is considering returning to university.
“It’s a bit like that book The Alchemist. I re-read it again recently and I am following my personal legend, as the book would say. I haven’t fully mapped out where I want to go but I know that I’ll eventually get wherever that is meant to be,” he said.
“My ultimate dream is to keep learning and to explore and discover new things. I am open to the idea of going back to university and I will keep all my options open — from architecture to archaeology.”
Over 200 staff are expected to leave RTÉ within the coming months, after they announced details of a voluntary exit programme in an effort to cut 300 jobs earlier this year.
Aengus Mac Grianna will officially leave the station early next year.
