New legislation will soon be drafted up to enable the Government to use information from major TV services suppliers to detect households without a TV licence, though it will be still some months before such legislation is signed into law.
It is estimated that around 15 per cent of Irish households do not have the €160 licence. 411 people were jailed in 2013 for dodging the payment.
According to minister Alex White, that extra 15 per cent is worth €25million to the exchequer, and that getting everyone to pay up is simply a matter of ‘fairness’.
The Licence currently brings in €220m a year. €180m of that goes to RTE, and the rest is spread between TG4 and independent producers.