GEORGE LEE HAS dismissed reports that he is in the running for the vacant RTÉ Washington correspondent position.

Speaking to TheJournal.ie this evening, the former Fine Gael TD said, “There is absolutely no truth in the rumour”.

He added that he had no interested in the job- once famously held by Charlie Bird – and had not put himself forward.

“I don’t have any plans at the moment other than to carry on as I’m going. I’m very busy doing Prime Time and the radio. It is not for me.”

Earlier today, The Herald reported that Lee, along with Robert Shortt and David Murphy, was a front-runner for the job, which needs to be filled following Richard Downes’s decision to return to Ireland.

His successor is expected to be named in the coming weeks.

Lee joined the Prime Time team in a shake-up of the station’s news programmes announced last October. He also presents The Business on RTÉ Radio One on Saturday mornings.

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