No major increase in TV licence court summonses despite significant drop in numbers paying

There was no major increase in the number of court summonses issued to people for failure to pay their TV licence last year, preliminary figures show.

An Post, which manages the licence inspection system, applied for 13,137 summonses to bring people to court for failure to pay the licence, between January 1st and November 30th last year.

This compared to 14,915 summonses sought for court hearings over households’ failure to pay the €160 licence over the course of 2022. While figures for the final month of last year were not yet available, the rates of court summonses issued remained largely the same between 2022 and 2023.

There has been a significant drop off in the numbers of people paying the licence following the financial and governance scandal that has engulfed RTÉ since last June, which was sparked by revelations the broadcaster made undisclosed payments of €225,000 to former presenter Ryan Tubridy over several years.

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Due to the fall in the numbers paying the TV licence it is expected the rate of court summonses sought by An Post will increase over the coming months.

There were 8,612 cases brought to court over failure to pay the annual licence up to the end of November last year, compared to 9,610 cases heard in court over 2022.

A spokeswoman for the Department of Media, Arts and Tourism said after a summons is issued the case may not come to court until the following year. “Timing of court hearings and details of prosecutions and sentencing are a matter for the Courts Service,” she said.

“The issuing agent for licence fee collection, An Post, makes every effort to reduce evasion and issues a number of reminders to evaders,” she said. Efforts to prosecute people in the courts for not paying the licence fee was a “last resort,” the department said.

“In cases where a valid licence is not registered to an address, a number of reminders are issued via post followed by an inspector visit. Should a valid licence still not be produced, an application for court summons is progressed,” she said.

The drop in TV licence payment rates precipitated a financial crisis at RTÉ, which required the Government to approve a €56 million bailout of the organisation.

The Coalition is due to decide on whether the TV licence system should be reformed or replaced, with alternative options including a different household charge, or that the exchequer fund RTÉ directly. In recent days Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he was hopeful legislation setting out the future funding model of RTÉ could be introduced later this year.

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