People paying TV licence fee watch money 'squandered and abused', says judge

The judge also referred to what he described as "elitism and exclusivity shown and demonstrated by the RTÉ "ruling class".

The judge told the court: "The people before this court are accused of failing to pay the TV licence fee, and these people may feel a little hard done by when they see the way RTÉ has abused statutory funding which is annually provided to RTÉ." File picture: Dan Linehan

A Dublin judge presiding over the capital's TV Licence prosecutions has slammed RTÉ for what he described as elitism, "Godlike personalities", and "freeloaders" while defendants were "crippled with the cost of living".

Dublin District Court has a special weekly sitting for cases brought by An Post against TV owners who have not paid their €160 annual television licence fees.