RTÉ crisis: Minister urges public to pay TV license after major drop in last month
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There has been a drop of over €1m in TV licence fee revenue since the RTÉ secret payments scandal emerged, raising concerns that the broadcaster will need a financial bailout.
The number of people paying the TV licence has fallen by 5,837 across June and the first week of July when compared to the same period last year.
Media minister Catherine Martin confirmed on Tuesday afternoon that there was a 31% reduction in TV licence fee payments in the second week of July compared to last year.
There were 8,922 sales of TV licenses in week two, compared to 12,981 last year.
The drop represents a total loss of income for RTÉ of over €1,000,000, although non-payers may eventually be forced to pay.
Speaking at the launch of new supports for the night-time economy, Ms Martin said it was "too early" to see if the non-payment would be a long-term trend.
She said she would need more information before making a decision on funding for RTÉ/
She urged that it is "really important” for people to pay for their TV licence.
The media minister said it is the “law of the land” and is vital for public-service broadcasting.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar last night encouraged the public to continue to pay the TV licence fee and said he is hopeful the State will not have to bail RTÉ out.
“I’m going to continue to pay the TV licence fee and would encourage other people to do so as well,” Mr Varadkar said in Brussels.
“Not just because it’s the law, but also because it is used to fund public service broadcasting, and that goes beyond RTÉ and funds a lot of the media production and broadcasting that we all value, whether it’s sports or children’s programming, Irish language programming, music — all those things that really have nothing to do with the recent controversy.”
His comments came as the latest figures, released to Fine Gael Kerry South TD Brendan Griffin, show a sharp decline in the number of people paying the licence fee since the controversy relating to secret payments to presenter Ryan Tubridy came to light.
Mr Griffin said that the Minister needs to put a contingency plan in place to mitigate against the possible effects of continued revenue loss, adding that if the trend continues it will lead to a serious funding crisis.
“It’s obvious that a significant proportion of the population has lost confidence in the national broadcaster due to recent scandalous revelations.,” he said. “A few of us feared this was coming and, unfortunately, that is proving to be the case. Ultimately this is what is now happening thanks to the actions, or misactions, of some of those who were tasked with leading RTÉ.”
Information released by Ms Martin’s office shows that 11,241 licences were issued in the first week of this month, a significant drop from the 15,432 issued in the same week last year.
The number of TV licences issued in June amounted to 73,421 when renewals and new applications were added up, which is again down from the same period last year when 75,067 were issued.
Mr Griffin said that, despite a rising population, the figures have clearly fallen for June and “drastically” for the first week of July.
Before the latest controversy, around 15% of people were estimated to have evaded the licence fee, which RTÉ has said costs it around €60m a year.
Meanwhile, the public accounts committee (PAC) has said it will resume its examination of RTÉ when the Dáil resumes in September but is willing to meet over the summer if key witnesses make themselves available.
PAC chairman Brian Stanley said: “The committee intends to engage with witnesses who have not yet appeared before it and, if it deems it necessary, will consider the use of powers of compellability.”