The number of television licence sales has decreased for the sixth year in a row, according to figures from An Post and the Department of Communications.
Since 2019, the number of households paying for TV licence continues to go down.
That year, the number of sales stood at 1,025,534, before dropping by 6.27 per cent to 961,277 in 2020.
The 2021 sales figure stood at 951,454, a 1 per cent decrease from the previous year. In 2022, figures dropped by 0.37 per cent to 947,924.
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The following year saw the largest percentage decrease in sales with a reduction of 13.04 per cent, bringing the figure down to 824,278.
This coincided with an RTÉ controversy involving former Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy. It emerged that between 2017 and the start of 2023, Tubridy was paid €345,000 more than the figures publicly disclosed in annual reports on top presenters’ pay.
In 2024, 792,243 TV licences were paid for, a 3.89 per cent decrease from 2023.
Last year saw 768,657 licences bought, a 2.98 per cent decrease on 2024.
Each TV licence costs €160 per household or business. 2019 brought in revenue of over €164 million while 2025’s revenue dropped to about €123 million, a difference of more than €41 million.
In a statement, an RTÉ spokesman said there has been a “decline in the number of households claiming to have a television set", adding that the ”issue of high TV licence evasion rates precede the events of 2023”.
RTÉ said it “remains grateful to all those who have continued to pay their TV Licence. RTÉ is also grateful to the Government for the provision of multi-annual funding for 2025 to 2027. This public funding has provided RTÉ with greater certainty and allowed us to plan ahead and continue to transform RTÉ in line with our five-year strategy.
“While challenges remain, RTÉ is delivering more to audiences, we are listening to what they have to say and making better decisions,” the spokesman said.
