Most jailed over TV licences ‘freed in hours’
Last year, 242 people were jailed for not paying fines after failing to pay their €160 TV licence.
New figures provided by the Prison Service in response to a Freedom of Information request show that the 97.5% of those jailed walked free within hours — irrespective of the sentence.
Of the 242 jailed, 236 were jailed for less than one day, with six prisoners staying in jail overnight before walking free.
Those who don’t pay can face fines of up to €1,000 or a term in prison if the fine is not paid. Yesterday, Fianna Fáil spokesman for Justice Niall Collins described the jailing of those not paying TV licence fines as “a terrible waste of State time and resources”.
The average cost of a prison space in 2012 was €65,404.
The numbers being jailed for non-payment of TV licence has increased dramatically in recent years — the 242 jailed last year compared to 183 in 2011, and represents an almost five-fold increase on the 49 jailed in 2008.
A spokesman for the Irish Prison Service said yesterday: “All prisoners committed to custody on a fine sentence are considered on a case-by-case basis by the Prison Service.
“When making a determination of whether to hold the person in custody a number of factors are taken into account, including the nature of the offence, the amount of the fine, the length of the sentence, and the prisoner’s previous offences.
“While each case is considered individually, it is the case that fine sentence prisoners generally spend very little time in custody, with the majority being released on the same day. On Sep 4, 2013, there were 11 prisoners in custody on a fine sentence.”
The level of non-compliance relating to the non-payment of the €160 TV licence is at 15% — representing an estimated €28.3m in lost revenues.
Last year, the number of prosecutions initiated by An Post against those who failed to pay their TV licence on time was 11,500 — an increase of 10% on the previous year.
A spokesman said: “On average 50% of people are paying before the licence expires or within a couple of days expiring. 10.25% of the sales are by way of direct debit installments, while around 11.5% of licences purchased use savings stamps to pay.”
A spokeswoman for RTÉ said: “Legislation and enforcement are matters for the Department of Justice, while collection is a matter for An Post. RTÉ welcomes the current public consultation regarding the Public Service Media Charge, which will include consideration on collection and compliance. RTÉ, as a recipient of funds (along with TG4 and BAI Sound and Vision) would naturally welcome any increase in compliance.”
