RTÉ scandals ‘making job of TV inspectors almost impossible’

A SERIES of payments scandals at RTÉ has made the role of TV licence inspectors ‘almost impossible’ as they face a torrent of verbal abuse at the doors, according to a union leader. An Post has revealed that it was forced to stop inspections last year to provide resilience training to staff.

And while house-to-house calls have resumed, the general secretary of the Communications Workers’ Union, Seán McDonagh, has said the current TV licence model ‘is no longer fit for purpose’.

‘It hasn’t been updated, the legislation, in terms of making collections,’ he told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.

‘The contract has not been updated and at times An Post itself has had to sponsor and pay some money towards implementing the contract.

‘That is no longer fit for purpose. Events at RTÉ made that worse, and the job of the inspector is almost impossible,’ he added.

Mr McDonagh’s comments come as the total number of fines issued to people for having no TV licence fell by 40% in the past 12 months.

The total income made also dropped by €21.9million from June 2023 to February 2024 compared to the same period the previous year. Kerry-based TV licence inspector Bill O’Sullivan said he knows first-hand how the recent scandals at RTÉ have affected his job.

‘It’s much more difficult overall,’ he told RTÉ’s News at One.

‘The people are very resistant to buying the licence since the RTÉ scandal.

‘As time has gone on, they’ve become more hardened and [are] basically protesting, so it’s made the job much more difficult.’