Whatever political carnage the retiring George Lee may have left behind in Fine Gael HQ, his stated intention to return to Montrose will present RTé with an even bigger political, personnel and financial headache.

The station came under fire from Fianna Fáil when Lee announced his intention to run for Fine Gael in Dublin South. The party claimed that the station knew about his intentions beforehand yet allowed him to broadcast what it claimed were biased reports against the government.

Though Lee and RTé refuted such allegations, it did leave the station wide open to accusations of anti-government bias no matter how unfounded.

In the budget six months later, €7m was sliced off the station's €197m allocation from the licence fee income, plunging it into an even deeper financial mess.

Given the ongoing tetchy relationship with Fianna Fáil, it would be impossible for RTé to hand Lee any position that would involve him reporting on government affairs.

Already, Fianna Fáil TD for Longford Peter Kelly, who is also vice-chair of the Oireachtas committee on communications, has been highly critical of Lee's decision to return to "a plum job in RTé".

"They [RTé] are supposed to be imparting the news in an independent, dispassionate and detached fashion. To have a revolving door, as seems to be the case for some individuals, is hardly right," said Kelly.

Lee took a year's unpaid leave of absence on 5 May last year. It expires on 5 May next.

A station spokeswoman confirmed that while it is not an absolute requirement, staff are requested to inform RTé whether they intend to return or not three months before the leave expires. The spokeswoman said too that RTé received a letter from Lee confirming his intention to return last Tuesday – the day after he made his dramatic announcement.

This means Lee's bombshell was almost exactly the required three months before the period of unpaid leave expires.

When considering what position should be given to people who take leave of absence, particularly those who have pursued a career in politics, RTé has to balance that with its statutory requirement for impartiality, said the RTé spokeswoman.

While the spokeswoman would not be drawn on what position Lee would be offered, it is clear it will not be a reporting job.

On speculation that Lee might be offered Charlie Bird's Washington role when Bird returns, the spokeswoman only said the Washington post would be subject to an internal competition in RTé.

A major problem for RTé is that Lee is unlikely to accept any desk job no matter how senior it is and will want to be 'front of camera'. On top of the political and financial implications for such a move, dropping Lee back into the newsroom will upset the delicate personnel balance in such an environment.

While newsroom staff rushed to embrace the prodigal Lee when he did the rounds of virtually every programme last Monday, it is unlikely there will be the same enthusiasm if he returns for good in May. There is considerable resentment that his actions have undermined the newsroom's credibility. That resentment could grow to outrage if Lee is given any senior reporting role.

There is also lingering resentment that Lee as 'a talent' is paid considerably more than most RTé correspondents. At a reported salary of €150,000 a year when in RTé, Lee just missed the salary cuts introduced across the station last June. So having taken a cut of around €8,000 off his (brief) TD's salary of €106,000 when he started, he can expect his RTé salary to have dropped in his absence to around €138,000.

Lee cannot even return to his old job as economics editor as it doesn't exist. Lee was replaced last October by former Europe editor Sean Whelan, who is RTé's economics correspondent, not economic editor.

RTé management simply don't know what to do, having heard about Lee's dramatic move 10 minutes before it was announced on last Monday's News at One.

If they bow to pressure from one of their talents and give him any type of position that would influence RTé 's news coverage, then they risk further confrontation with Fianna Fáil, further endangering that much-needed licence fee income.

Recently the state broadcaster has tended to shy away from open conflict with its main financial supplier, and has been positively supportive on several occasions.

In March of last year there was what many regarded as a grovelling on-air apology to Taoiseach Brian Cowen over its reporting of a nude painting of Cowen which was hung surreptitiously in the National Gallery. During the last general election campaign, an episode of the Late Late Show became an impromptu tribute to Bertie Ahern. Less than a week later, Fianna Fáil won the election.