LAST UPDATE | 18 Jul 2023
MINISTER OF MEDIA Catherine Martin said this afternoon that the number of TV licences issued in the second week of July continued to lull below the amount issued during the same period last year.
As reported earlier today there was a significant drop in the number of TV licences issued in the first week of July compared to the same time last year.
Speaking at a press conference in Dublin this afternoon, Minister Martin revealed that the number of licences issued last week was similarly down with 8,922 licences issued last week compared to 12,981 in 2022.
Some 11,241 licences were issued in the first week of July compared to 15,432 in 2022.
The fall in the number of people paying TV licences comes as national broadcaster has been embroiled in controversy for weeks since the revealation it had under-reported Tubridy’s salary and failed to declare hundreds of thousands of euros in additional payments to him.
Speaking in Dublin this afternoon, Minister Martin said it was too early to see whether or not this will be a long-term trend and she would not be drawn on whether the Department is preparing a plan for licence fee revenue drying up.
“I’m looking at the longer-term trend when I assess what my budgetary ask will be in September. We don’t know if people are holding back, if it is just an initial quick reaction to the controversy. To make my decision as informed as possible I’ll need more data in September,” the Minister said.
Martin added that people may be delaying payment now and will pay again in the future.
She said today’s figures do not mean that people are “never going to renew”.
Martin also said it was not for her or the government to decide whether to prosecute people for non-payment of the licence fee but that it was instead a matter for the District Court by An Post.
“It’s really important that people pay their TV licences, not just because it’s the law of the land, but also because, as I’ve consistently said, of the value public service broadcasting,” the Minister said.
The TV licence figures from the first week in July were published by Media Minister Catherine Martin in a reply to a parliamentary question from Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin.
The figures show there were 5,837 fewer TV licences issued during June and the first week in July than there was in the same period last year.
This represents a loss in revenue of €933,920.
The drop in licences was most significant in the first week of this month, with 4,191 fewer licences issued compared to this time last year. This marks a drop of 27%.
The total number of licences issued last month was 73,421, compared with 75,067 in June 2022.
Speaking to reporters in Rosslare on Thursday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar hinted that a radical overhaul of the TV licence model is coming down the line.
“A fund that goes almost entirely to RTÉ isn’t fair, because there’s more to public service media than RTÉ,” Varadkar said.
“I believe this should be the government, this should be the Dáil, that deals with that issue once and for all.
“Reform was put off in the past for lots of different reasons, but it is now long overdue and I’m determined to see that through during this government’s time in office,” he added.
He said the current model was a “very old fashioned” way of collecting revenue and “linked to a device that many people just don’t own anymore”.
Last year, the Future of Media Commission proposed replacing the current system with direct exchequer funding but this idea was rejected by the government at the time.
The government acknowledged that the TV licence system is “out of step with changing trends in media consumption” and that it “does not realise the full funding needs of the sector”.
However, it said that in order to maintain a direct link between media and the public and to minimise the risk of potential or perceive political interference in media independence, the TV licence would be maintained but overhauled.
Currently, the TV licence fee is collected by An Post and distributed by the Department of Media.
A small proportion of the fund is paid to An Post as commission for collecting the revenue while 7% is paid to the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI) to fund programmes on Irish culture, heritage and experience, and programmes to improve adult literacy.
The remaining revenue is paid to RTÉ.
With reporting by Jane Matthews
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