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LAST UPDATE | 2 Aug 2019
IN FIVE YEARS’ time, you will need to pay a TV licence fee for a range of devices, the government has said.
This confirms an idea long-held by the Fine Gael government to charge those using devices that can access the RTÉ Player or RTÉ radio.
The government confirmed that it will be looking for bidders to collect the TV licence fee later this year, as recommended by the Working Group on the Future Funding of Public Service Broadcasting.
It’s at the end of this five-year contract for collection that the new funding model, which will include devices like laptops and tablets, will be introduced.
The TV licence currently costs €160 a year and is collected by An Post.
Communications Minister Richard Bruton said that the change recognises “that the landscape in which broadcasters operate is undergoing a transformation: audiences are transitioning away from traditional platforms and are increasingly accessing content online through digital mediums”.
The government said that the licence fee should be replaced by “a device independent broadcasting charge”, as it’s estimated that 10% of homes access content on alternative devices that don’t need a television licence.
The measures are included in the Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill 2019, which has been published today, which includes measures to reduce levies placed on independent broadcasters.
The minister added that a new funding scheme that would allow bursaries to be granted to journalists in local radio stations.
Bruton said: “Public service broadcasting is more important now than ever. Independent, objective reporting of domestic and international affairs is crucial.”
It is also clear that due to the nature of technological change and the movement towards digital devices, the design of the TV licence fee will have to change. This is a fundamental reform that will take time to develop, but it will future proof the funding model, taking account of changes in technology and in how content is now consumed.
Free TV licences will still be given to those getting the Household Benefits Package under the new scheme.
Evasion levels
RTÉ has welcomed the development, but questioned why it will take five years to implement.
A spokesperson said the broadcaster “has been making the case for reform of the TV Licence system for many years, and it has been made in numerous independent reviews”.
“While this decision by government to tender for collection services is welcome, nonetheless the decision to defer implementation of a revised media charge system means that the crisis in the funding of public service media will continue.
Latest evasion levels are 13%, significantly higher than in the UK and other European countries. The fact is that the number of homes that do not have a traditional television set – but who are nonetheless consuming public service content – is increasing rapidly and the current television licence fee mechanism reflects less and less how people consume public-service content.
“When added to the evasion rate, currently close to 25% of homes are now not paying the TV Licence due to an outdated and inefficient system. This is resulting in tens of millions in lost funding for public media and the broader sector each year.”
The Communications Minister has also announced the review of the Broadcasting Act, to evaluate the proportion of the TV licence revenue which is allocated to the ‘Sound and Vision Scheme’ which supports the independent sector and native Irish content.
The review will also consider the minimum amount of funding that RTÉ is obliged to spend on commissioning external content – in 2018 this amounted to €39.7 million.
Updated by Órla Ryan
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Oh look its the Electronic version of Irish water
@Mark Mccormack: not really, just changing the funding model. I’m sure people were just as upset when the radio licence became the TV license after TV was introduced all those years ago
@Mark Mccormack:
If we want to keep some RTE workers as the highest paid people in the country (some paid double the amount the Taoiseach or top bankers are paid), then we need to collect more money for them. How can you say that the likes of Ray Darcy or Ryan Tubridy aren’t worth hundreds of thousands each a year?
@james boylan: They are painfull and that’s putting it mildly. How are their salaries justified?
@Mark Mccormack: How is it anything like Irish Water?
They can fook right off I already pay
@Mark Mccormack: Time to make RTE and Fine Gael a distant memory. They still haven’t the picture about IW
@Vocal Outrage:
How about increasing the company tax instead. 12.5% is ridiculously low
and besides companies cant vote!
@Moorooka Mick: I
Great question. It’s complex.
Overseas companies bring more jobs than Irish entrepreneurs can create. They pay employers PRSI, create spin off jobs in support services and industries, share knowledge, invest in research and development and lots more.
This should be checked and every Euro I lost taxes evaluated.
We have advanced quite a lot as a nation since we brought in incentives to attract foreign direct investment.
You’re right to ask tough questions and the politicians must answer with facts to show the strategy still works and represents value for money in terms of tax foregone. Most pols are lazy and don’t like doing anything that resembles strategic thought or proper planning. They like to live in the land of sound bites.
Remember DECENTRALISATION?
@Moorooka Mick: Tax goes up, jobs go down. It’s a simple relationship
@Moorooka Mick: you’re right, companies can’t vote. But their CEOs can make big donations to political parties that oblige them in their agenda.
@Mark Mccormack: well let’s do something sign the petition!
http://chng.it/G67D6bG9
@Do the Bort man: if it needs to be explained to you. I am not the one to do it as I’ve not got a qualification in advance communications in stupidity for the intellectually lacking keyboard warriors.
Petition: http://chng.it/5fhjbqxmrt
@Mark Mccormack: Notice the subliminal transfer of ownership as in: Your TV License and Your Motor Tax and ‘Your PAYE’ etc. These are all ‘Their taxes’ and ‘Their Levies’ and they need to be quantified in terms of affordability and value before any discussion takes place. Right now they simply inflate salaries and that’s not good enough.
It should be a subscription service, why should someone living here with a laptop, unable to speak English, not remotely interested in local broadcasting have to pay for RTE to bloat their salaries even further?
@Pip: 100% correct. Tie it to a person’s ROS account or something.
@Pip: so true I was in a house working for a landlord and the quaran was on the 50″ TV everytime I worked there
@Pip: if it was a subscription service older gen might not know how to access. Plus nobody would buy it.
@Pip: agree. Maybe leave tv license as is but pay for the App on devices. If you don’t want the app, you don’t need to buy it
@Trevor Connolly: or if using the app you need to register your details that is checked with the license if you have a license it will work. If you dont you buy one or pay monthly etc.
@Pip: but who will do the hurling and the football?
TV3? No thanks.
Sky? No thanks.
Some elements of RTE are weak but they do sport well.
Also, RTE don’t get 100% of the licence fee. TV3 get some of it.
@Chin Feeyin: tg4 are the only ones who deserve any support, in that they actually provide some of the best quality TV on these shores, especially sports coverage and documentaries. Rte’s hurling coverage now includes a man spouting racist ‘colonial’ tropes, and yet everyone now has to chip in for his salary.
@Pip: because they’re living here. If they don’t interact with the services that’s their choice.
It’s the rules to the choice they made to come here.
@Chin Feeyin: it might be good but it’s not €160 good.
@Pip: Níl Béarla agam, aontaím leat!
@Skimothy: That’s the problem, it’s far too expensive and combined with all the advertising they do, it’s a joke. There’s very little independent/public service about RTÉ, it’s not worth it.
@Chin Feeyin: But RTE fooked up the rights to soccer and rugby, our two largest followed sports in the country. When our national broadcaster can supply our national team live, they have no place collecting money.
@Pip: well let’s do something sign the petition!
http://chng.it/G67D6bG9
@: Pay up because of “the rules” because they live here? I love your sheep mentality. Every single tax should be accountable to the payer.
I’ve a better idea, sell RTE
@Sam: who would buy it tho plus RTÉ would ask for a crazy amount when it’s a worthless a €10 what I would buy and sack all staff and change the name,big ears on a Friday night he would be first to go
@Sam: or let them self fund or close
@Sam: who would buy it. Close it down, wouldn’t be missed by many.
Privatise and tax, that’s the FG way.
@Dave Doyle: how is this privatisation?
@Vocal Outrage: “Bidders to collect the tax” just like Turas Nua, Seetec. There’s private elements to all these things. It will be policed with fascist intent so money can be made.
@Dave Doyle: it’s very likely An Post will get the gig because they will be the only bidder.
@Chin Feeyin: A British company Capita who collects on behalf of the BBC, the Cork based ABTRAN who runs IW’s call center, and a company called PAYZONE are all being considered.
@Dave Doyle: the contract will be put out to public tender.
I never watch RTÉ, I’d rather give the €160 to netflix
@Sam: and miss homegrown RTÉ produced promotion of their own rather “celebrities”than programmes like True Detective ,Theroux documentaries etc etc ?
Share and sign the petition: http://chng.it/5fhjbqxmrt
@ObsidianShine: Done.
And they can go f–k themselves….
@Mill Lane: +1000
@Dominic Leleu: Seriously tho, one of the main reasons I have a mobile is because it’s linked to an elderly relatives alarm/panic button and these shower of b-stards want to tax me for that.
Welcome to life in rural Ireland under FG where the government can’t protect you from an epidemic of rural crime and want to tax you for doing the job of the Gardai and ambulance service.
@Mill Lane: finally I agree with you on something on the Journal
@Paul O’Sullivan: Jasus Paul, I didn’t think I was that much of a contrarian :).
@Mill Lane: well let’s do something sign the petition!
http://chng.it/G67D6bG9
Not from me they won’t!
@Tom Bombdadil: you’ll have no choice… It will probably be built in to the price of your smartphone, laptop, sky, Virgin subscription… Lots of easy ways to collect it. In theory it should come down in price because more people will be hit, but I wouldn’t hold my breath. Should mean a few more quid for other broadcast outfits like local radio though and that’s good.
@Jerriko17: you can be sure it will increase in price. FG are taxing us to death. Every day brings new taxes and charges
FFG preparing to up just another of the unfair taxes….
@Willy: what’s unfair about spreading the tax base?
@Willy: How is it “another” tax? its a replacement for the existing TV Licence
@Jerriko17: because this tax removes autonomy and choice. I pay tax when I buy my phone and laptop, and then I pay tax on my monthly bill. If I don’t watch RTE on these devices, I’d still be forced to pay for it with this introduction.
That is why it is not fair.
@Do the Bort man: of course it’s another tax. I’m not currently taxed for using my phone in the way I will be in future.
So instead of being forced to fund RTE we are now going to pay for content they dont even provide? What a joke.
We already pay 23%VAT on the services we subscribe to and the devices we watch them on. And we need a licence for that?
Imagine having to pay a gas bill and getting threatening emails and letters when you don’t even have gas, and if you don’t pay you could go to jail.
€160 per year per household this government and others before have failed when it comes to sorting out irish television,I’ve always paid mine but it’s definitely not worth it the bulk of what’s on is British,sort it out so it’s value for €160 odd,I don’t watch much tv these days for obvious reasons there nada on
@Aaron Jones: €160 for what? Mrs Brown,The Late Late Show,Dermot ‘F**kin*’ Bannon? Ask me Hole
@Hugh Jarce: I hate them shows especially miss browns boys a man wearing a granny’s outfit,it’s big in a few other countries because they think irish people are like miss browns boys plus he’s a worthless actor,sad state of affairs
@Hugh Jarce: ask any parent about that Primetime on the creches and they’ll tell you that was worth the €160 alone
@Ian Breathnach: parent here, totally irrelevant. That piece of journalism could have been undertaken by a private media organization
@Steph Ní Dufaigh: probably but the likes of Tv3 sorry Virgin Media are like a red tip newspaper, they sensationalise everything and as a result loose credibilty and viewers
I’m sure we already pay taxes on our phones, and they want to add another one, adding a licence fee tax for using an app. And i don’t really watch RTE any more, its just a propoganda machine for the gov, and they still want to charge for it, so they can freely push their own agendas on something that is a loss making liability to the taxpayer but the gov won’t sell it because it gives them a lot of free promotion.
They could easily just charge the people to buy or subscribe to the apps in the devices to watch RTE, but no, they want to charge everybody, regardless.
Why do I have to pay for a service I don’t use??
RTÉ is a cash wasting dinosaur, Tv licence should be abolished
@DERMOT DE BARRA: agree but só too is the halls of leinster house another overfed dinosaur
@Matt Humphries: Yeh, we need a military coup and a dictator.
Shove it up yer arse. I pay enough taxes. Owning a phone should not be a reason for me to pay the wages of the mediocre deadrot at RTE.
@Luke Lee: Touche!!
http://chng.it/5fhjbqxmrt sign the petition.
I’m thinking of a word that begins with F and ends with F. Just because my device can receive Rubbish from rte doesn’t mean I watch it…
@Dave Walsh: fireproof?
@Dave Walsh: the one I’m thinking of had 2 words.
@Dave Walsh: Fluff?
@Dave Walsh: Faff?
@Dave Walsh: Foolproof?
@Mick O’Shea: No he meant F##k Off.
@G Row: no flies on you
@Gareth Keenan: Not one of the sheep.
Thanks but no thanks anything I have on my phone I’ve paid for or pay for on a monthly basis likewise on my tablet too so im not paying someone else for it ✌️✌️
Has anyone ever seen someone watching RTE on their phone or laptop?
RTE should be subscription charged not compulsory purchase.
Another sneaky tax .
F—k Off, sort out the tax reduction Leo you promised and get rid of the USC. Government always taking. Sort out the homeless while you are at it.
Sure what about a GAA tax while we’re at it? :)
This is the one issue that will get normies on the street protesting. I will vote against any party that wants to introduce this.
Oooh I smell a new tax…
Surely if you use your laptop and phone for work you’d be exempt.
And another absolutely unfair tax.
Thieves !!!!
@Dominic Leleu: well let’s do something sign the petition!
http://chng.it/G67D6bG9
@Me_a_monkey: I will
@Dominic Leleu: done
Someone has to pay for Reeling in the Years which is embarrassingly replayed EVERY summer. What an effort from RTÉ?
@Wild Goose:
I
Totally agree, nothing but repeats on TV!
Complete waste of money!
They actually think people want to access RTE lol
As long as the money is used to promote the production of our own shows while at the same time respecting and promoting our heritage, culture and language then I’ve no problem with paying a TV licence.
@Dec: Well, looks like you’re going to have a problem then!
@Dec: Get rid of that money draining borefest “Late,Late Show” The only people that watch that S***e are the brainwashed morons who are afraid to switch channels lest they incur the wrath of God and be struck down by a bolt of lightning!!
@Dec: you tool!
@Mick Curtin: You win! How could anyone hope to triumph in any educated debate with someone so articulate and intelligent as you obviously are! Your comment has to win an award of some sort! Now go back to complaining and calling people names from your keyboard you bad mannered moanbag!
TV Licence is a dinasaur.How much is spent on collecting the licence?Every time you turn on the tv or radio there is an advert regarding tv licence!Should funding of the national broadcaster be taken from general taxation?
Should be a subscription service. I only use Netflix and Amazon Prime. I certainly won’t be paying for a service that I do not use
How on earth can they assume you are watching that broken piece of cra.p that is the RTE player? Are they going to send inspectors into your house to go through your search history? Filter your router IP lookups?
From a legal point of view, I would really love some input?
I can’t charge you, for a service I do not know if you are using surely? It’s fascistic.
As Director General calls for €15 hike in licence fee, our investigation reveals RTE paid out €3.7m on food, €2.5m on travel, and €1.2m on ‘other’ expenses:
‘Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy once again topped the pile, taking home €495,000 for the Friday night chat show and Radio 1 gigs.
Ray D’Arcy, who returned to RTE two years ago for a Radio 1 show, shot straight to the No2 spot with an €400,000 deal — edging out Liveline presenter Joe Duffy on €389,988.
Miriam O’Callaghan earned €299,000 for fronting Prime Time, her summer chat show and Sunday with Miriam radio programme.
Marian Finucane was paid €295,000 for her weekend radio slots and Claire Byrne received €201,500.’
EXCL: RTE’s multi-million-euro expenses figures over past three years revealed
@Raymond Westlake: you correct about few presenter salary too much Ridiculous
Our Saorview box does not work, the technician cannot get it to work for some reason…so we basically pay 160 Euro to stream Eurovision and the Late Late Toy Show each year. I know I could watch more content on RTE but it does not even cross my mind. So, it is defnitely just another tax in this household. I should probably bother to watch something once a week to at least get my money’s worth!
So Tubs reads the newspapers for a bit. Then pile ads….next spin a record or two….then take a caller with a problem….more ads and hey, the hour is up. That’s a hi paying job right there…RTE is full of this..
Keep it as a license fee to subsidize RTÉ and there is no justification. It is a state subsidy that no longer needs to exist. RTE needs to compete as a commercially independent organisation. It should be a public service fee and let production companies compete for it based on specific public service criteria.
Ok enough is enough it’s time to get rid of this f.g. government and we need to have a serious look at the wages they are on and amend the constitution to decrease it I know I’m living in fantasy land
I’m curious to know how those that don’t or have never paid the TV licence go about avoiding prosecution. Do you just ignore the letters and refuse to answer the door?
@Gareth Keenan: pretty much.
@Karen Wellington: nice way to live your life all for €160
@joe: It’s a matter of principle for a lot of people rather than just being tight as you might say.
@Gareth Keenan: yes
They wont get a cent from me, they never have and never will. I refuse to fund a state broadcaster in any nation.
RTE is making a loss. Any “normal” organisation would look at cutting costs, improving efficiencies AND increasing revenue. RTE apparently is special – just throw more money at it to be wasted. No mention of cutting costs etc. That might upset the cosy taxpayer funded never ending holiday they are all enjoying.
Some nerve thinking they will still be in power to implement this.
Remember this come election time.
RTE doesn’t broadcast on free to air satellite. Why not keep it off the internet…problem solved.
Put it on the electricity bill, no gas powered TVs around last time I checked.
Can’t recharge a phone/tablet/laptop without it either.
Reduce the fee to €120 a year, add to the electricity bill as a constant payment & capture almost 100% of the population.
There’s approx 2.25m connections in the country multiplied by €10 per month =€22.5m per month (€270m per year) going to ALL broadcasting with no overhead for collecting, issue of, or enforcement.
@sequoia: Do you really want to go down the road of government inventing new taxes and having carte blanche to simply just whack it on to your electrical bill?
Look at the overspend on multiple government projects, children’s hospital, broadband ect. ect. and come back and tell us you still think it’s a good idea.
Absolutely BS. Why pay for a state mouthpiece when they will not push anything other than the Government view. When a farmer wants to keep crows off his crops he hangs a few dead ones on his fence
A SHAME!
What if I’m never watching TV and I own a tablet and a laptop?
I will never pay these €160, I don’t watch public service content.
‘Subsistence payments hit €1,281,000 last year — up from €1,206,000 in 2015 and €1,231,000 in 2014.
And while not away from the office on work, RTE workers already enjoy a subsidised canteen.
Travel expenses for RTE staff totalled €829,000 last year, €860,000 in 2015 and €858,000 in 2014.
Our figures, released under the Freedom of Information Act, also show another €1.2million went on “other” expenses for RTE staff over the past three years.
And the bill has been rising on an annual basis with €437,000 splashed on “other” expenses in 2016, up from €428,000 in 2015 and €391,000 in 2014.
RTE failed to breakdown the nature of those payments to staff, merely saying it included “equipment, communications, entertainment etc”.
It also refused point blank to reveal any of the expenses paid to contractors — claiming it would “cause a substantial and unreasonable interference with or disruption of RTE’s work to comply with this request”.
Source:
@Raymond Westlake: Yep, when RTE actually reform and stop blatantly wasting money, then come and talk to me about this new tax. Not before.
The idea of a TV licence is to fund local, neutral broadcast outlets. RTE is definitely not neutral and the are making money off of advertising!!!! If you watch BBC-no adverts
This is absolutely scandalous!!! I am surprised that the percentage of people not paying is so low. I think we are all so used to having it as part of our yearly outgoings.
And paying An Post to collect, costs more than what they take in, the entire system is laughable.
How about this … How about come and take the pipe ( that your force feed into every home ) , how about you come take that out . So I can’t watch state Broadcasting …. this should be available upon request to anyone who wished to do so …
2 RTE Player : or any broadcasting player liker virgin tv etc … How about making it a subscription based service . So it’s not free on mobile devices . I bet the reason you won’t is cause your numbers won’t look right cause they can’t compete with the content other subscription services provide . People only watch the online players on the basis it’s free & are not been charged for . That is a decision made by the corporations … Not the people …
It would be like waking up to a bill from Three Mobile and been asked to pay it . Even though you don’t use or need any services from this company
This is another bulling tactic by our government to reach into our pockets a little deeper and grab some more money & if we as people keep letting these just make up new “acts” they they try to portray as “law” to monitize an already failing network who is up to their neck in debt ( cough cough RTE ) , then they will continue to walk all over us & keep on running to the bank with your money .
Personally speaking if this in introduced … I shall not be paying I tell you that ..
I pay Sky / Newflix to broadcast stations & content onto my tv that I purchased not from RTE … I pay Virgin Media for my internet service …not RTE … So why pay ??? You provide me with nothing but a bill … And a service that I don’t want .. but force fed it …
I don’t hold a valid ” CONTRACT ” with you so please leave me alone !!!!
They are forgetting cars can access rte radio maybe they should extend it and say if you have a car you need a tv licence if it has a radio with capability of accessing irish radio, brand it anyway you want i pay my tv through netflix i dont watch rte or listen to their radio stations
Scramble rte TV services, no login code no watch. Don’t assume everyone wants to watch rte. Besides, subscription streaming services will eventually overtake FTA broadcasting.You want to watch the news, subscribe to a news service. Saorview is doomed.
How wonderful to increase the funding to RTE and keep talented presenters like Ryan Tubridy and Jennifer Zamperelli working.
@Mike Conway: Yes, and Joe Duffy thinks he provides six or seven hours of broadcasting a week for his €400,000 a year salary. Actually he dosen’t, ‘listeners’ phone in and provide almost all of the content for free. And that is when they don’t have a lesser being ‘in’ for Joe which seems to be about half of the time.
My issue is taking it away from post offices. We need to bolster post offices and local credit unions in the regions. They are the heart of rural communities.
All these rural TDs whinging about broadband and turf cutting and us Dubs get everything miss the point . A luas at every door plus a Lidl and A and E.
They are remote because that’s the way it is. The local post offices should be shops, broadband centres and small cafés. But shut the post office and rural life is dead are. No problem subsidising rural post offices.
They can if they want. I buy a tv licence, so it doesnt bother me.
@Eugene Tyson: Got rid of my TV just because there was nothing worth watching on terrestrial tv anymore. Got myself a nice projector for 500 quid, and now can watch my Netflix to my heart’s content. But guess what, if I decide I don’t like Netflix anymore, I can cancel my subscription. I have already decided I don’t like rte (actually despise it), but apparently that doesn’t even matter
@Eugene Tyson: well let’s do something sign the petition!
http://chng.it/G67D6bG9
Would u stop, this is ridiculous. We pay vat on purchasing the tablets, phones and TVs as it is, we also pay vat on the internet and that we purchase also, and we also pay vat on the electricity we use to charge and use these devices
I don’t think RTE should be privatised but it should be downsized considerably to only provide coverage with a national interest like news, arts, politics, culture, education and whatever sporting events are still free to air.
Something like a €50 fee is reasonable for those services considering they’re also funded by advertisers. What isn’t reasonable is €160 to fund lavish salaries of those who see themselves as celebrity entertainers earning hundreds of thousands, it’s very concerning that we have a government trying to force citizens to fund these elites who aren’t offering anything back to the public and would never survive in the private sector.
You should not have to pay for service you do not use.
It sounds like the Government are targeting people who do not use TVs in apartments. That have the ability to access RTE Inna laptop or smart phone.
Well I didn’t ask RTE to go online so why should I pay for something i idon’t use. ?
@Paul O’Sullivan: how is it just “apartments”?
@Do the Bort man: well many who live and share in apartments and homes can just hop onto the wifi. You get a house in Dublin city centre let’s say 8 apartments. Only one tenant needs broadband give the password our and all apartments use it simple.
A Device License for repeat after repeat and paying the high salaries and Pensions of Z List RTE so called celebrities
Close it down as I never watch or Listen to any of RTEs Dire Programming
Time for those to move with the times RTE needs to be rebranded and come as subscription. And the licence fees s thing of the past.
Then with normal radio , I am guessing the state still controls the air waves. So each radio station rents the frequency from the state. To cover maintenance costs.
Online radio up to the person whom runs wheather it charges or not.
What a pile of bs. So do we all get free contracts with our mobiles then.. Double take or what
It’ll be just as easy tell the tv inspector.. No tv, laptop or phone in this house. €160 is 2 days hard work for most of us peasants and I’m supposed to feed rte with it, a channel that I haven’t seen since the 90s.
RTÉ is appalling. The tripe they expect us to watch! Reeling in the Years is the only time I have RTÉ on in my house. BBC, UK stations and Netflix all the way. Puts RTÉ to shame and then they rob us of a fee every year!! For what??
Is this the only Government in the world trying to bring this in.
@Paul O’Sullivan: This is an internet tax dressed up as a ‘television licence fee’. Hungary tried to introduce a similar tax a few years ago and the Hungarian people protested and convinced their government that it was not a good idea. Hopefully the Irish will do the same. I don’t pay a television licence, I got rid of my television years ago, replaced it with a computer monitor and stream what I wish to watch on that. I refuse to subsidise a sub-standard dysfunctional television service awash with overpaid ‘stars’.
Must say I am peeved by the fact that every household will be charged this fee irrespective if they have a TV or not. If I use my laptop I have bought it, I pay for Wifi, I pay for electricity, I pay local property tax. And now I have to pay a further charge for the pleasure of doing so!! Just to pay Ray Darcy’s ridiculous 450,000 euro salary! Come on!
It’s funny FG think they will still be in office to implement this in five years
An absolute joke. Yes the devices can access rte player and radio but I’d be confident that it is a tiny minority that use them for this.
@Skimothy: There’s a very simple solution to it as well, the player app and website just needs to require a code which could be provided on issuing a tv license.
But they know what would happen if they made it optional.
How about reform for RTE? Overpaid coked stars*
*Gerry Ryan can’t have been the only one
F off!!!!!!!!!!! Seriously, they’ll be taxing the air we breathe next, and then the water we drink…… oh wait…. they already are. Where does it stop? I’ll tell you when, when they’re removed from power and people cop the F*ck on and stop voting for them. What’s it going to take for people to start collectively standing up and saying no?
@Ciaran Farrelly: Remove FG and vote FF and you’ll get the exact same. This broadcasting charge covering all devices was in the pipes under the last FF government and they’ll push it through when they’re back in as well. So the Irish people have to break from the habit of a lifetime and vote in a government that does not include FG or FF!
About time too! I see so many young people walking around glued to their phones. I have always suspected they were listening to Joe Duffy or taking a sneaky look at Rolling Back the Years.
Money to go to local independent journalists etc.. Does that mean that new start up news outlets/journalists will be able to access this funding? Or does it only go to existing local radio and media? Local media could do with a boost but stimulating competition by allowing new start up media could be a game changer! New Start ups could represent local and national NGO`s etc better than mainstream local can (because of financial and editorial constraints) .
If you are going to tax the internet (New media platform) at least allow some of the cream of the internet and minority viewpoints a look in. Oh and we could do with a 1st Amendment clause because that might have saved Julian Assange from a death sentence or 175 yrs in prison (re recent US court decision freed Julian Assange from any criminal doings, so reason for extradition is cancelled!!
Maybe Wikileaks could set up in Ireland, and the intercept and maybe others if 5 eyes censorship carries on its present trajectory (And the Irish Gov has to get to grips with that problem) . Imagine Ireland a centre of journalistic freedom and excellence! Ahh!
@sean mcgee: “Money to go to local independent journalists etc.. Does that mean that new start up news outlets/journalists will be able to access this funding? Or does it only go to existing local radio and media?”
Depends on who you know *nod nod wink wink*
@Shakka1244: Thats unfortunate because I only really know me (sort off) :)
How about you concentrate on providing a decent service instead of dreaming up new ways of widening the net to fleece everyone!
Maybe if they reduced the salaries of their presenters things wouldn’t be as bad at RTE
Let primetime investigate tbis
We already pay the Licence Fee for all these devices, I was told by a TV inspector when I did not have a TV that it covers a broadcasting signal into your home or premises on any device and I am sure it states this on the TV Licence document you receive when you pay your €160.
They can sod off… allow commercials on rte…. and stop paying sub standard presenters large amounts of money
Well, they’ll need it to re coup all the money for the national broadband plan. All those people living up the side of a mountain can’t be watching repeats of the English who do you think you are? for free.
Poor RTE can only afford to pay Tubridy a meager €500K. Then Darcy who only earns a lousy €450K. Spare a thought for Joe Duffy on €400K. Sean ORourke and Marian Finucane €300K. The list goes on. This clearly represents value for money, so quick everybody. Get out there and pay your TV licence so these impoverished slaves can get a badly needed pay rise!
How will that work -households are very fluid . Will it tax for a finite no of devices ? It means a price increase whether you have one device or many?
Another fupping charge to live in Ireland.. Ffs
RTE needs complete overhaul, Rte 2 and radio 2 sell or close, Lyric FM broadcasting to dead air ,just turn it off, no more buying British and American shows and sticking them on in the middle of the night so Virgin media can’t show them
Build the TV Licence price into the Soar box , or any package from a TV provider that includes RTE. Also, in the RTE Player app price and so on. Watching RTE – pay, not watching – don’t pay.
P*ss off! I’ve nothing to do with rte and I don’t want to fund them. They already get enough money through ads and the like, why should we line their pockets because 10% of phone/laptop users watch rte player?
It’s ridiculous! Trying to control us and profit from it.
Nope. Make RTÉ pay per view. It’s the fairest way, u watch it? Then u pay for it.
Government are dirty robbing gits get rid of rte or cut the big wigs wages ordinary working people are been robbed
Think we all need a lesson on what is and what is not funded from the licences fee. Pretty sure the top salaries and the late late show are not funded from it!
For what its worth I think it should just be collected by revenue as part of tax with suitable exemptions for the old, the young, the poor ect.
@Tim Pot: Well someone pays their salaries. Who is it then if it’s not the taxpayer (again)?
Well lets see if the so-called fighting Irish will accept this new ridiculous tax. If you have a smartphone you must pay a TV licence haha….
Collect money so RTÉ can overpay the jumped up, self obsessed, little man that is Ray Darcy
well i pay to use my phone so does mean the government gonna pay my bill
In Spain you don’t pay television licence the government closed down the TV stations that weren’t performing
Will this mean the guards can take you phone if you can’t prove you have a licence . Corrupt Gardi looking after corrupt politicians being covered up by corrupt overpaid bais RTE
I never watch Irish programme are rubbish and I use watch ireland rugby & Ireland football and watch British programme often. Retire elderly people still free licence?
For people complaining about the €160 fee, that includes live GAA coverage, where as you would have to pay SKY and additional €360 per year for sky sports (including the 6 month introductory rate, and the 12 month contract), on top of the basic €288 fee for sky, so €648 in total.
@Do the Bort man: What if you don’t want to watch GAA? Sky isn’t going to force you pay for it.
@Do the Bort man: well maybe if they putl on live Man UTD games on every week I might pay for that but not for GAA
Bit shallow there man….if you think everyone watches GAA
@Do the Bort man: I don’t watch any sports or Irish telly. It’s pretty much just anime for me. Why should I have to pay for something I will never use?
@Paul O’Sullivan: I know everyone doesn’t watch GAA, but there is a constant complaint from GAA supports about the price sky charge
@Do the Bort man: Simple solution! Don’t pay it Sky anything for GAA coverage. Problem solved.
Put a WEEE type charge on new TV sets, the bigger the screen the more you pay. Let RTE budget then according to that. You’re welcome!
Out of question I pay for something I own.
Just deduct it at source for everyone either salary or social welfare.
If you can prove you never use any of the services then you can get a refund. Simple cheap and stops the scabby f’cks who are to cheap to pay it!
@joe: I think finland does it this way. simples
@joe: ‘scabby f’cks who are to cheap to pay for’ overinflated presenter salaries
Why can’t they access the data records of all who use sky, Netflix etc and compare them against there TV licence records and chase those that don’t pay.If somebody can pay €1200 for a complete sky package and I know people who do then they can surely pay a TV licence fee.
@Hugh Mc Donnell: GDPR. private companies holding private data. You may have heard something about it. There has only been wall to wall coverage for about two years.
How many times do we need to pay for things in Ireland? Everyone already pays VAT when they buy the TV, phone or computer. VAT on the bills for their subscriptions, VAT on the electricity for them etc. Now they want us all to pay a further tax, an extremely regressive tax as it hits the poor much harder than the rich.
All this to pay the obscene salaries of the talentless RTÉ “Stars” who many of us when given the choice choose not to watch.
RTÉ should be either abolished or made PPV.
People need to bring this up if the politicians dare to darken the door looking for a vote. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael are as incompetent as each other and are to blame for this shambles. Give them the kicking they deserve.
I watch quite a lot of TG4 and the news on RTE 1. that’d be it.
What if you don’t have a mobile phone or laptop
If it’s “device independent”, does that not mean we get to have TVs without having to automatically pay for RTE while never watching it?
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Can someone please tell me what the TV tax is?
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