Bad news for people who’ve avoided paying their TV licence for years

We're sure you're not one of them, but be sure to inform your guilty friends and family members.

We’re not pointing any fingers or anything, but we don’t think it would be stretching it to say that there are some people in this country who don’t pay their TV licence on an annual basis. Don’t look so suspicious; we said we weren’t pointing any fingers. While Dee Forbes, Director-General of RTÉ, has dismissed reports that the licence fee could be doubled as “nonsense”, she did confirm her intention to reform the fee collection system to recover approximately €40 million she says is lost to the entire Irish sector every year through people dodging having to pay for their licence.

"The reality is that RTÉ has maintained services and output on vastly reduced income and that is no longer sustainable. The current licence fee, at just over 40c a day, is, I believe, great value. Any notion that it will be doubled is nonsense. What I am focused on is reform of the fee collection system to recover some €40m per annum that is lost to the entire Irish sector every year through evasion."

Forbes made the comments after confirming that RTÉ are to cut approximately 200 jobs in a restructuring of the company, job losses that will come about through voluntary retirement and redundancy. Ms Forbes also stated that the job cuts would represent approximately 10% of the current staff levels at RTÉ and that the measures needed to be introduced to reduce costs at the national broadcaster. RTÉ have also announced that almost nine acres of under-utilised land on its Donnybrook campus has been put on the market, with a guide price of €75m, and that Savills will manage the sale.

"RTÉ has been operating with vastly reduced commercial and licence fee income, now in the region of €330m, compared to €440m in 2008, and has been under-investing in the organisation for nearly a decade now. That is unsustainable. The funds from the land sale will be used to invest in much-needed technology upgrades and in key digital infrastructure, to reduce debt levels, and to carry out other essential workplace improvements. All of the changes and investment being planned are directly related to the necessary evolution of RTÉ to enable it to collaborate much more successfully, to compete realistically in a challenging market, and to better serve our audiences."

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