RTE bosses have continued to keep their main canteen closed after it became plagued with rats and mice.
Earlier this month, bosses at the national broadcaster sent an email to staff advising them of eatery alternatives after the main canteen was shut down because of a rodent infestation caused by building works around the Donnybrook campus. A health and safety inspector had previously been out to assess the building.
Three weeks later, some of RTE’s brightest talent and staff continue to eat elsewhere as the main canteen remains closed. A spokesman for RTE said: “RTE communicated to staff on Friday, January 20 as follows: ‘The main restaurant on our Donnybrook campus will remain closed next week as a precaution and to allow for ongoing monitoring of the area'.”
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The station has been undergoing construction work on its grounds and it appears the building has become plagued with “rodent activity” as the work has disturbed their furry neighbours.
A spokesman for RTE confirmed to us at the time: “RTE has a number of controls in place to monitor rodent activity on our sites, which can occur from time to time, particularly due to building or other works on site or in the area. Where any rodent activity is detected, as happened recently, experts are brought on site to assess such activity and take the appropriate action, including precautionary measures. The main canteen is currently closed for essential maintenance."
In 2018, RTE star Ryan Tubridy revealed staff were on “high alert” after the radio centre became infested with rodents. Having complimented the Clonmel builders who are working on site for being "neat" and "clean", the Late Late Show host revealed at the time that their digging is causing the problem.
"They've unearthed a lot of the ground near where our new neighbours, who we look forward to bringing over a bottle of wine and some cheese, or whatever people do when new neighbours move in, but maybe not the cheese. I was told this morning that we have to be on high alert for mice," he said.
There has been "great excitement" among the staff and it is, he said, "the talk of the town" on his morning Radio 1 show. "I swear to God it was like CSI Montrose listening to them this morning describing the mouse that our friends on Ray's show were talking about, and we were talking about. It's the talk of the town here."
Tubs then joked he was propagating "fake news" when he suggested it could in fact be a rat. "[I said] 'Are you sure there's not a hoard of rats running around the place?' Do you remember what Vladimir Putin said about hamsters? He said hamsters are just rats with good PR. Maybe these are mice with good PR?,” he said at the time.
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