About 10.5 per cent of television owners evade paying their licence, according to the Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands, Ms de Valera. Last year, 1,057,296 television licences were sold and the target this year was 1,170,000.
She said An Post was considering additional methods of pursuing evaders and more flexible payment methods. While a reported evasion rate of 10.5 per cent gave no grounds for complacency, the number of licences issued has increased by 19 per cent in the past decade.
She told Fine Gael's arts spokesman, Mr Dinny McGinley, it was her intention to "continue to monitor collection performance very closely".
Asked about her intentions regarding RTE's application for a significant licence fee increase, Ms de Valera said she was "currently considering" expert evaluation of RTE's application.