A WOMAN writing as “finance minister” of her household told the Minister for Communications she would rather relax and watch television in jail than pay the annual licence fee for her set.
Her submission was one of 28 received by Pat Rabbitte and his predecessor, Eamon Ryan, between 2009 and 2011 and released under the Freedom of Information Act.
Members of the public gave various reasons for objecting to paying the licence fee, ranging from it being unfair to those who rent out holiday homes to its use in keeping RTÉ presenters in “high-society lifestyles”.
A person writing to Mr Ryan in August 2010 notes a recent visit from the television licence inspector. The correspondence states that the family transports the television from their main home to their mobile home in Co Kerry for about three weeks each summer. But the writer expresses surprise that a licence is needed for both homes.
“In all honesty how can you say that we need two licences for the one television? It is so ludicrous it is like saying we need a licence for a dog in Cork and another for the same dog in Kerry.”
The woman who wrote to Mr Ryan in February 2009, said she would “absolutely refuse” to pay a proposed increase in the fee.
“The cheek of the high earners to expect the mugs, the taxpayers, left to keep them in their high-society lifestyles.”
She argued the licence fee did not represent value for money.
“It is the same faces we see on our screens all the time. It must be the RTÉ Galway races tent.”
She adds that if any increase goes ahead, she would go to jail rather than pay it.
“I would look forward to the many courses that are available in prison life and some time out to relax would be very nice with TV, and all the comforts many of us victims of crime pay for.”
Others welcomed plans to overhaul the licence system but expressed concern about the possibility of it being replaced with an “internet tax”.
Mr Rabbitte is considering replacing the existing fee with a household broadcasting charge to take account of increasing access to programme content on mobile phones and other devices.
In one reply on September 6th last year, the Minister responds to a complainant who paid his licence fee with “a degree of disgust and reluctance”. The writer names nine of RTÉ’s top presenters and suggests that they and the station’s executives be “put out to pasture”. In a handwritten note at the end of the reply, Mr Rabbitte says he believes the remarks to be “unfair to the great bulk of RTÉ workers”. He adds: “I think you know that the people you single out are on contract – and significant reductions are under way.”
Speaking on radio last November, Mr Rabbitte said he received a “regular” stream, albeit a minor one, of complaints about RTÉ and the licence fee.