Rural Kerry town throngs courthouse for unpaid TV licence fees
The KerrymanSheep farmers, a Ukrainian grandmother, gentlemen in their best tweed jackets and young mothers in leisurewear thronged the one-room Cahersiveen courthouse on Thursday as a sizeable portion of the small south Kerry town was summoned to explain a lack of TV licences.
The state collected more than €4,500 in fines for unpaid TV licence fees.
So thronged was the small rural courthouse that the crowd spilled onto the street outside as defendants squeezed onto courtroom benches and stood shoulder-to-shoulder down the aisles.
Many had never set foot in the courthouse before and exchanged nervous glances before proceedings began.
Once it became apparent most were present for unlicensed TV sets, the mood settled from anxiety to camaraderie.
In one case, a Ukrainian unaware of the requirement had subsequently asked his landlord to remove the TV from his rental rather than pay the fee. His landlord obliged and agreed to pay the €260 owed for the unlicensed period.
The first defendant called was a diminutive Ukrainian grandmother in a pink jacket, who had arrived with her grandson to translate.
The grandson explained she had subsequently applied for a free TV licence under the Household Benefits package available to those over 70. Judge John King struck her case from the record.
She thanked him, then gave a small wave of thanks to court clerks and court reporters as she and her grandson left the courtroom.
The TV licence inspector remained in the witness box while the judge heard 37 cases.
Based on the national average of 2.5 people per household, this would represent about seven per cent of the town’s population.
In each instance, the judge asked the inspector how he had discovered the unlicensed television. It was quite simple, explained the inspector. When he knocked on the door of a household to inquire about their TV licence, people told him the truth. He had made the rounds of Cahersiveen between September and November last year.
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Judge King ordered defendants pay the money lost for the unlicensed period and an additional €100 to cover court expenses.
The five defendants who had yet to purchase a licence were fined €450 each.
One defendant sought disclosure, another case was adjourned for translation and eleven cases were withdrawn.
The fines totalled more than €4,583.
The TV licence is a payment for receiving broadcasts or owning a television. It was introduced in with the establishment of Teilifís Éireann, the predecessor to RTÉ, in 1962 at a charge of £4.
The fee now stands at €160, with about 85 per cent of its revenue given to the RTÉ for public service broadcasting.
Licensing revenue dropped by nearly €58 million in the two years since the Ryan Tubridy payment scandal where the Late Late Show host received €345,000 in undisclosed payments from RTÉ.
In 2024, An Post made 12,229 summons applications and 5,392 court cases for unpaid fees across Ireland.