15,000 unplug their licence fee direct debits
MORE than 15,300 people cancelled their TV licence direct debits last year following six months of scandal at RTE.
Figures provided by Media Minister Catherine Martin show that in July, weeks after RTE started hitting the headlines, 2,327 people cancelled their monthly payments.
The news came as it was also revealed that government probes into RTE have cost the State nearly €500,000.
This comes as two expert reviews into corporate governance, culture and HR commissioned by Media Minister Catherine Martin have yet to be completed.
This is despite the fact that they were expected at the end of February.
The national broadcaster was plunged into controversy in late June 2023 when it was revealed former Late Late Show presenter Ryan Tubridy had been overpaid by €345,000 over five years.
It also emerged that RTE had underwritten a deal with car company Renault to pay Mr Tubridy €75,000 a year. They ended up paying him €150,000 after Renault pulled out after the first year in a three-year arrangement.
Flop
Subsequent Oireachtas Committee hearings with the broadcaster revealed the use of barter accounts and exuberant spending on items such as flip flops and the flop “Toy Show the Musical”.
The scandal resulted in the number of people paying the TV licence falling off a cliff, leaving a hole of nearly €20 million.
Minister Martin has now confirmed that 15,359 people cancelled their direct debits to pay their TV licence in 2023.
Of the direct debits that were cancelled in 2023, 8,461 were cancelled from July onwards.
Ms Martin told Sinn Fein TD Thomas Gould in response to a parliamentary question that An Post stated there are “a number of reasons why a direct debit arrangement is revoked or cancelled”.
The Media Minister confirmed that total costs incurred into RTE probes so far are €202,956.
This comprises payments to Crowe Advisory Ireland for “professional services to support the work of the Expert Advisory Committees”, as well as payments to McCann Fitzgerald, who are acting as Legal Advisers to the Committees for the Reviews and “fees to a number of Committee Members”.
In addition, Ms Martin confirmed that a Government-instructed review of RTE’s barter accounts cost €274,536.
This brings the total cost to €477,492.