Taoiseach makes statement after TV licence payments drop dramatically

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has shared his reaction to the news that there has been an enormous drop in TV licence payments. 

It has been revealed that for the month of June and the first week of July, the number of people who have paid their TV licence has fallen by 5,837, compared to the same time last year. Approximately, this figure equates to an income loss of €933,920 for RTÉ.

This timeframe takes into account the scandal surrounding RTÉ’s recent financial ongoings, which include undisclosed payments to the former Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy.

Reacting to the new figures last night, the Taoiseach detailed that while they are surprising, he hopes that everyone will continue to pay their TV licence fee.

“I’m going to continue to pay the TV licence fee and would encourage other people to do so as well,” Mr Varadkar stated when questioned during a visit to Brussels.

“Not just because it’s the law, but also because it is used to fund public service broadcasting, and that goes beyond RTÉ and funds a lot of the media production and broadcasting that we all value, whether it’s sports or children’s programming, Irish language programming, music — all those things that really have nothing to do with the recent controversy,” he added.

Mr Varadkar also noted that he is hopeful that the Government will not have to bail RTÉ out in the future, if the decrease in payments continues.

The statistics were first released to Fine Gael Kerry South TD Brendan Griffin, who has since expressed his own concern about the figures.

“It’s obvious that a significant proportion of the population has lost confidence in the national broadcaster due to recent scandalous revelations.,” he explained. 

“A few of us feared this was coming and, unfortunately, that is proving to be the case. Ultimately this is what is now happening thanks to the actions, or misactions, of some of those who were tasked with leading RTÉ,” he added.