In Ireland, a television licence is required for any address at which there is a television set. Since 2016, the annual licence fee is €160. Revenue is collected by An Post, the Irish postal service. The bulk of the fee is used to fund Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), the state broadcaster. The licence must be paid for any premises that has any equipment that can potentially decode TV signals, even those that are not RTÉ's. The licence is free to anyone over the age of 70, some over 66, some Social Welfare recipients, and the blind. The fee for the licences of such beneficiaries is paid for by the state. The current governing legislation is the Broadcasting Act 2009, in particular Part 9 "Television Licence" and Chapter 5 "Allocation of Public Funding to RTÉ and TG4". Devices which stream television via internet do not need licences, nor do small portable devices such as mobile phones.
The FG-Labour coalition planned to replace the television licence with a Public Service Broadcasting Charge on all primary residences and certain businesses. A public consultation document on the plan was published in August 2013. Asked in December 2014 about the delay in switching from the licence to the new charge, Minister of State Joe McHugh said the government would "be taking more time to work out a very complex system". Implementation of the broadcasting charge was postponed in 2015 but returned to the political agenda in 2017.JCCCAE 2017; In August 2019, Richard Bruton, the Minister for Communications, announced that from 2024 the licence fee would be replaced by "a device independent broadcasting charge", with implementation and enforcement details to be worked out in the interim.
Collection and evasion An Post is responsible for collection of the licence fee and commencement of prosecution proceedings in cases of non-payment. Licences can be purchased and renewed at post offices (in person or by post), or by using a credit card or debit card via a call centre or via the internet. An Post receives commission to cover the cost of its collection service. In 2004, An Post had signalled its intention to withdraw from the business,Purcell 2004, §2.12 but was still the agent in 2017. In 2012, 10.25% of licensees were paid by direct debit and 11.5% using savings stamps. The Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill 2017 proposes to allow public tender for additional collection agents, who would not have prosecution powers.; A 2017 Oireachtas committee report recommends transferred responsibility for collection to the Revenue Commissioners.JCCCAE 2017 p.6 Recommendation 3 In 2019 minister Bruton announced a public tender for all licence-fee collection for the five years to 2024. Even if An Post loses the contract, it will still be possible to pay for television licences at post offices. Nevertheless, commentators have suggested the potential loss of income may compromise the commercial viability of rural post offices, which are seen as socially important in isolated communities.
An Post maintains a database of addresses and uses this to inspect suspected cases of non-payment. the database is 30 years old, does not contain Eircode data, and has no data mining capabilities. Television dealers are required to supply details of people buying or renting televisions; this is no longer enforced as details supplied were unreliable.Purcell, §2.35 There is no obligation on cable and satellite providers to supply details of subscribers;Purcell, §2.37 in November 2012, a bill to change this was introduced. Minister for Communications, Energy and Natural Resources Pat Rabbitte announced a planned government bill to the same effect in July 2014. In April 2015, the proposal was to allow An Post to access cable and satellite subscriber databases, in tandem with cost-cutting at RTÉ; in October 2015 it was reported that the plan had been shelved.
More than 90 An Post employees work in licence collection, including the inspectors, who visit the premises to verify if TV receiving equipment is present. If speedy payment of the licence is not made following an inspection, court proceedings are commenced by An Post.Purcell, pg. 34, Figure 3.5 In 2002, the rate of licence-fee evasion was estimated at 12%.Purcell, §2.5 In the Dublin region in that year, approximately 21% of detected evaders were summonsed for prosecution (6,000 cases);Purcell, §3.62 approximately one third of these cases resulted in fines, averaging €174.Purcell, §3.68 Only 4% of fined evaders followed up three months later had purchased a licence.Purcell, §3.70 In 2012, there were 11,500 prosecutions, up 10% over 2011. Of those convicted, 242 were sent to jail, most for a few hours, six overnight. This compared with 49 jailed in 2008. The Irish Times reported in 2019 that the burden of proof for conviction was high, since proof of occupancy is needed before issue of a summons, which must then be personally served.
In 2010, the Secretary General of the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources told the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee that the evasion rate was estimated at 12%, and the renewed contract with An Post would include provision for a 1 percentage point annual decrease in this. In September 2016 the evasion rate was estimated at 13.75%, representing approximately €40m annual lost revenue. The estimated evasion rate was 14.1% in 2017 and 12.83% in 2018.
Disbursement TV licence fees make up 50% of the income of RTÉ. The bulk of the rest comes from RTÉ broadcasting commercials on its radio and TV stations. RTÉ also sells programming to other broadcasting. Some RTÉ services, such as RTÉ 2fm, RTÉ Aertel, RTÉ.ie, and the transmission network operate on an entirely commercial basis.
The licence fee does not entirely go to RTÉ. Expenses first deducted include the cost of collection (paid to An Post).
7% of the balance is used for Coimisiún na Meán's "Sound and Vision Scheme", which provides a fund for programme production and restoration of archive material which is open to applications from any quarter. TG4 does not obtain licence fee revenue directly, but does so indirectly as RTÉ is required to provide it with one hour's programming per day, as well as other technical support. RTÉ's accounts express the cost of this as a percentage of its licence fee income, amounting to 5.3% in 2006. The remainder of TG4's funding is direct state grants and commercial income. The 2009 McCarthy Report, commissioned in response to a growing economic crisis, recommended that €10m of TG4's funding should in future come from licence fee revenue; without increasing the fee, this would entail a matching reduction in RTÉ's funding. This reduction is included in the government budget introduced in December 2010. A 2017 Oireachtas committee report recommended that any increase in revenue from reduction in fee evasion should be allocated to TG4 and independent broadcasters providing public-service programming.JCCCAE 2017 pp.6–7 Recommendation 4
The RTÉ Authority was replaced by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland which regulates both private and public broadcasters. It is not directly funded from the licence fee; RTÉ, however, in common with other broadcasters, pays a levy to the Authority for its services. The Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill 2019 would allow up to 50% of the BAI's funding to come directly from the television licence.
Criticism The licence has been criticised both in principle and as regards its implementation.
It is opposed for being outdated in a world with an increasing variety of TV channels and audio-visual technologies. Commercial television companies have alleged that RTÉ unfairly uses licence fee to outbid them for broadcast rights to foreign films, TV series, and sports events. RTÉ denies this. European Community competition law prevents state funding of commercial activity, and RTÉ's accounts charge for non-"public service" programming out of its commercial income rather than its licence fee subsidy.
The licence is condemned as a regressive tax, where the majority of prosecutions are of people on low incomes.
The high cost of collection is presented as inefficient. Licence inspectors' calling to people's doors is seen as intrusive. The low rate of prosecution of non-payers is seen as allowing evaders a "free ride". The lack of an exemption (as exists in the UK) for those who can prove they don't use their equipment to receive RTÉ (or any TV) is regarded as unfair. Alternative funding methods suggested include direct funding from general exchequer revenues, or a levy on electricity bills on the model of Cyprus.
A licence is required per address, rather than per person or per set. It has been considered unfair that the same licence fee applies to a single private dwelling as to a large commercial address, such as a hotel or a privately owned business park. In 2003, there was negative comment after a crackdown on unlicensed television sets at holiday homes, and proposals for a reduced-rate licence for seldom-occupied premises.
RTÉ journalists largely support the existence of the licence, and lobby for greater increases in the fee, as being a revenue stream independent of the government and thus guaranteeing freedom from political influence and associated editorial bias. The opposite claim has also been made: that an annual review of the licence fee by the Government leaves RTÉ liable to political pressure.
A survey of public attitudes to public-sector broadcasting was carried out by the Economic and Social Research Institute in 2004.Delaney & O'Toole 2004, p.323 The authors noted that "public discontent at the level and inherently regressive nature of the ad rem licence fee is noticeable by its absence, particularly in contrast to the difficulties associated with the introduction of some ad rem service charges, e.g. bin and water charges." The associated opinion poll recorded agree:disagree percentages of 54:29 for the statement "Public Broadcasting should be financed by the licence fee."Delaney & O'Toole, p.333 Respondents were asked what level of monthly fee they would be prepared to pay to receive RTÉ if subscription access were hypothetically to replace the licence fee: the annualised mean and median household figures were €180 and €252.60, compared to the then licence fee of €150, with those who frequently watched RTÉ programs most willing to pay.Delaney & O'Toole 2004, p.347-348
History Television licences were introduced for the establishment of Telefís Éireann (now RTÉ) in 1962. Radio licences, abolished in 1972, had been introduced by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1904The Wireless Telegraphy Act 1904 (4 Edw. 7. c. 24); renewed by the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1906 (6 Edw. 7. c. 13); continued by the Expiring Laws Acts 5/1922, 47/1923, 60/1924, and 41/1925 prior to the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922. Non-compliance was widespread until the Wireless Telegraphy Act 1926 when the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs was empowered to prosecute those with no licence.
Although before 1962 there was no television licence as such, a television set fell under the definition of "wireless receiver"; thus someone possessing a television but no radio would have needed a wireless licence at the same fee as someone with a radio. Conversely between 1962 and 1972, the possessor of a television licence did not need an additional radio licence.