Speaking to the Dealer on Friday morning, George Lee was enthusiastic about his new position as agriculture and environment correspondent with RTÉ. “It’s the single best portfolio for a journalist in Ireland at the minute, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.It has been five years since the Prime Time presenter worked in the RTÉ news room. In April 2009, he left RTÉ to run in the Dublin South by-election (which he won). The following February and after just 10 months in Leinster House, he exited politics after becoming disillusioned with the political system.
Speaking to the Dealer on Friday morning, George Lee was enthusiastic about his new position as agriculture and environment correspondent with RTÉ. “It’s the single best portfolio for a journalist in Ireland at the minute, there’s no doubt about that,” he said.
It has been five years since the Prime Time presenter worked in the RTÉ news room. In April 2009, he left RTÉ to run in the Dublin South by-election (which he won). The following February and after just 10 months in Leinster House, he exited politics after becoming disillusioned with the political system.
“It has been five years since I was on the news beat, five years since I was looking for stories. A lot has changed in that time but very little too. It’s about getting out there, finding stories and cutting your teeth on the issues that matter, regardless of who your audience is,” he said.
Lee admits had the portfolio become available prior to this, it might not have had piqued his interest.
“Would I have gone for the role five or six years ago if it had been available? I would probably have to say no, I wouldn’t, but agriculture is in a much different place now. It is one of if not the most important sectors in the Irish economy at the minute – it’s the principle driver of the economic recovery. All you have to do is look at the highly qualified people we have in the sector now,” he said.
The former RTÉ economics editor said his business background should bring a “fresh perspective” the portfolio.
“I will bring my economics background to the job. I attended two or three world trade talks and while there were a lot of issues discussed, it always came back to agriculture for Ireland. Agriculture is big business now, even at farm family level so we need to always look closely at the figures and financials of farming too,” he said.
A few issues need to be worked out such whether or not he will continue with his work on the RTÉ Business radio programme and Prime Time means it will be a “few weeks” before his puts on his wellies and hits the fields. However, RTÉ’s new farming and environment man is “raring” to get going.
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