Relocating RTÉ from its base in Donnybrook and selling off the site was previously dismissed as being too costly by senior management, according to a former executive.
Willie O'Reilly was a member of the RTÉ Executive Board from 2012 to 2017 and has been a director of several media companies.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said: "We did look at the possibility of selling the site a couple of times when I was on the executive, but the hurdles were huge.
"The first one was finding and funding the purchase of a new site and the second one was designing and funding the new offices and studios.
"It was never fully costed – but the figures [mentioned] were in the hundreds of millions."
He said it was not just studios that would have to be constructed elsewhere – but also a new radio centre, orchestra space, administrative buildings, edit suites and the set of Fair City.
"The question was, where would you get all the money for this interim funding?" he asked.
"Another problem is that you would be running two sites for several years until everything transferred over.
"There was no great confidence, I suppose, that costs could be controlled. Think about what happened with the National Children’s Hospital, so people shied away from the idea."
However, RTÉ did agree to sell almost nine acres of its Montrose site to developers Cairn Homes in 2017 for just over €107 million. Around €20m of this was paid to Revenue in corporation tax.
Earlier this week, Cairn Homes lost an appeal to have the site excluded from the vacant land tax. It has yet to start construction there due to planning difficulties.
Meanwhile RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst recently confirmed to the Oireachtas Media Committee that the broadcaster is investigating the possibility of selling more – or all – of the remaining 24 acres at Montrose as it battles a funding crisis.
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But he said some of the issues affecting a potential sale included the fact that a number of buildings at Montrose now have protected status.
Aoife Brennan, a Senior Director with Lisney, said protected structures are more complex and costly for purchasers.
"So even though RTÉ has over 23 acres in a brilliant location in Donnybrook, how much of that would actually be available for fresh development?"
She said it was impossible to give an accurate evaluation without doing a deep dive into all the various costs involved but there had been reports of the land being worth between €120m and €150m.
"However, when you build in factors such as higher interest rates, listed buildings and possible planning delays, that price might not necessarily be achievable."
There would also be huge costs in moving over 1,800 employees – and broadcasting equipment - to a new location, warned Adam O'Keefe, Workplace Relocation Director with Cronin Movers group.
He said it would be a complex operation taking many months of planning. "While an accurate total bill is hard to calculate, you would certainly be talking about hundreds of thousands of euro".
RTÉ has not yet completed a valuation of its Montrose site but the Land Development Agency confirmed it had written to the broadcaster to enquire about a potential sale.
Under legislation passed in 2021, the LDA's remit includes developing lands owned by public bodies for the provision of affordable homes.
A spokesperson for RTÉ said it was reviewing correspondence from the agency "which will be taken into account in any discussions around the possible future sale of land".
