RTE Using Preschool Room as World Cup Studio

17th Jun 2026

In a unique cost-cutting measure Dublin broadcaster RTE has borrowed its studio set for the World Cup from a local preschool. Featuring children’s building blocks, brightly coloured mini-climbing frames and three adults who look like they wished they had made different career choices, the reduced costs are set to impress critics of the station’s flamboyant spending in recent years.

Under pressure to reduce ballooning salaries among presenters and staff, where it was recently revealed that over 200 employees are paid over €100,000 a year, the move is seen as a fob to the Public Accounts Committee who have been scathing of the broadcaster since the Ryan Tubridy controversy in 2023.

The World Cup panel has also been given a parent-teacher meeting feel, with an RTE presenter playing the well-dressed enthusiastic teacher role while two exhausted looking parents, played by former football professionals that most people would struggle to identify, sit on a couch talking in tired clichés.