More than 3,500 face court over TV licence as questions mount over value for money
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Over 3,500 people have been brought to court so far this year over failures to pay TV licence fees at a time when questions over “value for money” are growing.
The Department of Media was advised by An Post, which is responsible for TV licence fee collection and enforcement, that some 5,073 summons were applied for up to the end of last month.
A spokesperson for the department also confirmed that 3,513 people have been brought to court up to the end of May.
In 2022, An Post generated revenue of €152m on behalf of the department with sales of 947,924, while also carrying out 427,303 inspections, resulting in 14,915 summonses and 9,610 court cases.
A spokesperson said 43% of the TV Licence database (830,000 homes) is now made up of Free TV Licences and No TV Set homes, which they said is a growing concern due to the decreasing number of paying households.
Irish Consumers’ Association policy and council advisor Dermott Jewell put the vast majority of failures to pay the legally required fee down to affordability amid a cost-of-living crisis in addition to a growing sentiment that questions value for money.
“You'll always have the 'can’t pays' and the 'won’t pays' but I can't help but feel that, considering the exit after covid and all of the elements associated with inflation in recent years, a lot of that is affordability,” he said.
Mr Jewell believes recent statements on various salaries within the organisation will impact customers’ views on the value they get for paying the licence fee.
“There's going to be quite a number of people who will be quite upset, who probably won't have paid any attention to these [earnings] before because it didn't really come into their spectrum.
Mr Jewell expects licence payers to contrast their own earnings with those highlighted this week in the context of struggling to afford rent, food, and transport.
“RTÉ is going to have a big task ahead of them to outline the importance of how they're going to spend it and how the fee will be used to the best advantage of those who must pay a bill,” he said.
Fianna Fáil TD Christopher O’Sullivan, who is a member of the Oireachtas media committee, said TV licence holders he has spoken to are “deeply angry with the abuse of public trust” in RTÉ.
“A lot of question marks have been raised about value for money, it’s not that long ago that I was critical of RTÉ’s approach of constantly airing repeats on both of their main channels, and I questioned whether that was representing value for the €160 for a TV licence, I don’t think it does, and again it underlines the need for a complete review of the TV Licensing structure that’s there at the moment,” he said.