Clare pharma worker tells judge he won't pay TV licence due to 'corruption of RTÉ'

Defendant said: 'I don’t have to have a toaster licence — I don’t have to have a fridge licence. Why do I have to have a TV licence?' 

James Scanlon of O’Garney Heights, Sixmilebridge, Co Clare, appeared before Judge Alec Gabbett at Ennis Courthouse. File picture: Maurice O'Mahony

A Co Clare pharma worker stood up in court to tell a judge that he will not paying his TV licence or any fines for not doing so because of "the corruption in RTÉ".

At Ennis District Court, James Scanlon told Judge Alec Gabbett that it is "an unjust law” that requires him to pay the annual €160 TV licence.

An An Post licence inspector gave sworn evidence in court of calling to Mr Scanlon’s home at O’Garney Heights, Sixmilebridge on January 26, and that Mr Scanlon did not have a TV licence.

Mr Scanlon said he had no issue with the evidence by the An Post inspector. But he told Judge Gabbett: 

I have no intention of paying the TV licence, no intention of paying any fine or costs because of the corruption in RTÉ and how it is funded.

Judge Gabbett said that Mr Scanlon was setting out his position “which is fine” but he said that he was convicting him and fining him €160 for not having a TV licence and ordered him to pay an additional €80 in costs.

Speaking outside court after the case, Mr Scanlon said he was willing to go to prison over the non-payment of the TV licence fine.

The jailing of those refusing to pay TV licence fines is now seen as a last resort and an attachment of an earnings order, a recovery order and community service are steps before imprisonment is considered. 

Mr Scanlon said: “Like any unjust law if you go back to the rod licence, if there is civil disobedience then it becomes uncollectible and the law is got rid of."

The Listowel native added: 

If everyone refuses to pay their TV licence then the law will become obsolete. 

Mr Scanlon said he wasn't disheartened that he was the only person in court refusing to pay his licence because of the scandal at the broadcaster last year.

"Maybe some people who were present might now do something different," he added "I wasn’t going to go into court and weasel my way out of it and pretend the TV belongs to someone else.

"It is an archaic system and there are modern ways of collecting it. 

All RTÉ has to do is put everything behind a paywall and if they want to give OAPs a free code to watch RTÉ, technology would allow that.

He said: “Inspectors peering in windows and walking around interviewing people — it is a relic from the 1960s."

Mr Scanlon said paying a TV licence “should be voluntary". 

"It is the involuntary and compulsory nature of it that I object to. I don’t have to have a toaster licence — I don’t have to have a fridge licence. Why do I have to have a TV licence? It is a device I can buy in any shop." He said: 

RTÉ should be a private enterprise and collect their money by selling a high-quality product to the customer. If they did that I would take out a subscription to RTÉ but I will not pay a compulsory licence. 

He explained: ”It was in my wife’s name and she paid it but she took a principled stand that she would stop paying it as she had had enough. On the day of the inspection I answered the door and it now transfers from her name to my name — much to her amusement.

"I don’t have contempt for the court. I engaged with the process — I have nothing but respect for the judge."

"It is the law itself that is wrong and it must be changed — it can only be changed if there is pressure from the citizens."

The latest figures from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and the Media show that the numbers paying for their licence has recovered from the dramatic fall off in the immediate aftermath of the RTÉ ‘secret payments’ scandal to Ryan Tubridy last summer.

The number of TV licences sold during July and August 2024 totalled 131,567 and this compares to 108,546 the previous year.

The RTÉ annual report has confirmed that licence fee income received by RTÉ last year was down €17.3m on 2022.

In July, the Government announced a funding package of €725m for RTÉ over the next three years funded by a mix of licence fee revenue and exchequer contributions.