asked the Minister for Communications the number of television licences issued by An Post in 1984; the total revenue obtained; the cost of collection; and the amount transferred to RTE.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Television Licences.
6.
The information sought by the Deputy is as follows: The total number of television licences issued, 720,934; Total amount remitted to the Department of Communications from An Post, the Department of Health and Social Welfare and the Department of Defence, £34,216,991; Cost of collection, £3,134,000; Net grant-in-aid paid to RTE, £30,900,000.
Can the Minister give an estimate of the total number of television sets — black-and-white and colour — in the State?
I do not have those figures. A television licence covers a household regardless of the number of sets in the house.
Has the Minister any estimate of the number of unlicenced television sets in the State?
Too many, I should think.
That answer is not good enough for me.
I do not have an estimate of the number of unlicensed sets but I am of the opinion that there is a great deal of evasion. There is enough evidence to support that opinion. There are two types of evasion — first, the evasion whereby people do not pay any licence fee and, secondly, where people pay only fees for black and white television when they ought to be paying the fee for colour. I am considering this position with a view to deciding whether it is worth phasing out the black and white television licence.
Hitting the poor people again.
Would the Minister agree that the allocation of funds to An Post for the collection of the licence fee is inadequate? What happens is that there is the occasional campaign lasting for two to three weeks. The public are aware of how those campaigns operate. They are not effective and should be modernised to ensure that everyone owning a set pays a licence. It is totally unfair in so far as the 720,934 licensees are concerned that perhaps a figure in the region of 200,000 sets remain unlicensed. I am giving that estimate and the Minister cannot contradict it.
That is a statement.
Would the Minister be prepared to review the collection system and become more involved in that whole area?
The arrangements in this regard are normally made between An Post and RTE. There are ongoing discussion regarding the collection of licence fees and the detection of those who fail to pay the fees. We are already considering ways in which this area can be improved.
Would the Minister not take direct action in the matter? I am not satisfied that An Post——
Has the Deputy a question?
——have the allocation of staff or requirements to undertake a proper survey of the number of unlicensed sets. Therefore I call on the Minister to launch an intensive campaign to eliminate the difficulties. Much difficulty is caused to RTE by reason of so many sets being unlicensed.
I have had no complaint from An Post as to their staff and resources being inadequate for this purpose.
Would the Minister agree that the problem arises to quite a large extent from the fact that there is poor reception in various parts of the country?
That is a separate question.
I suggest that the Minister pay attention to that aspect.
If the Deputy has any specific region in mind perhaps he would let me have the details so that I might take the matter up with RTE. I am aware that there are some pockets in which reception is not up to scratch, but RTE make every effort possible to improve reception in such areas.