Written answers
Thursday, 17 October 2024
Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht
Television Licence Fee
Brendan Griffin (Kerry, Fine Gael)
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205. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht to provide the monthly television license sales figures in respect of each month beginning with January 2022, including a breakdown of renewals, new license sales, and monthly totals, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42314/24]
Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The table below shows the monthly number of first time licence sales and renewals, as recorded by An Post, since January 2022.
| MONTH | Total Sales 2022 | First Time | Renewal | Total Sales 2023 | First Time | Renewal | Total Sales 2024 | First Time | Renewal |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January | 78,050 | 10,236 | 67,814 | 78,389 | 10,396 | 67,993 | 75,183 | 8,418 | 66,765 |
| February | 70,648 | 9,244 | 61,404 | 71,891 | 10,072 | 61,819 | 61,601 | 6,932 | 54,669 |
| March | 74,098 | 9,353 | 64,745 | 79,210 | 10,694 | 68,516 | 59,195 | 5,768 | 53,427 |
| April | 73,942 | 9,706 | 64,236 | 68,795 | 8,723 | 60,072 | 64,566 | 6,091 | 58,475 |
| May | 73,624 | 9,339 | 64,285 | 73,598 | 9,181 | 64,417 | 63,631 | 7,061 | 56,570 |
| June | 75,067 | 9,020 | 66,047 | 73,421 | 9,009 | 64,412 | 58,612 | 6,373 | 52,239 |
| July | 76,769 | 9,572 | 67,197 | 53,882 | 6,047 | 47,835 | 66,768 | 8,342 | 58,426 |
| August | 77,736 | 9,471 | 68,265 | 54,664 | 4,882 | 49,782 | 64,799 | 8,056 | 56,743 |
| September | 93,365 | 10,247 | 83,118 | 66,000 | 4,956 | 61,044 | 69,814 | 7,707 | 62,107 |
| October | 94,905 | 9,957 | 84,948 | 67,722 | 4,725 | 62,997 | |||
| November | 87,750 | 11,098 | 76,652 | 72,248 | 7,076 | 65,172 | |||
| December | 71,970 | 8,708 | 63,262 | 64,458 | 5,985 | 58,473 |
The most recent data provided by An Post is for the period from 1st to 13th October 2024 inclusive which show that there were total sales of 25,937 comprising 22,779 renewals and 3,158 first time licences. This compares to 23,010 total sales for the corresponding period in 2023. As direct debits figures are collated monthly, these are not included in these October figures and will not be available until after month end.
TV licence figures can be found here: . These figures are updated weekly.
As the Deputy will be aware, in July of this year Government agreed to a multi-annual public funding arrangement for RTÉ, consisting of a combination of revenue from TV licence fees and Exchequer support. Key to Government's decision was the provision of multi-annual funding to provide certainty to RTÉ, enabling it to plan on a multi-annual basis for the delivery of its New Direction Statement of Strategy 2025-2029. As part of this decision, the current TV licence system will be retained, but underpinned by improvements in collection and compliance to maximise revenue generation in support of public service media content.
TV licence receipts support not only RTÉ but also the wider broadcasting and independent production sectors through the Sound and Vision Scheme. I continue to urge everyone who is required to do so, to purchase or renew their TV licence and enable the continuation of this important support for our public service media.
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