A brave man has taken the stand in court to inform the judge that “the corruption in RTÉ” is the reason he would not be paying his TV license or any associated fines, reports Breaking News.
James Scanlon told Judge Alec Gabbett at Ennis District Court that having to pay the €160 yearly TV licence is “an unjust law.”
An Post licence inspector testified under oath in court that she had called Mr Scanlon’s residence at O’Garney Heights, Sixmilebridge, on January 26 of last year and discovered that he was in possession of no TV licence.
The prosecution against Mr Scanlon was one of seventy An Post cases registered against non-TV license holders, reports Breaking News.
Mr Scanlon declared that he would not be paying for his TV license or any fines, but he did not dispute the An Post inspector’s testimony.
“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,” Mr. Scanlon declared, turning to face Judge Gabbett, reports Breaking News.
Judge Gabbett stated that although Mr Scanlon was stating his case in a “fine” manner, he was found guilty, fined €160 for not having a TV license, and required to pay a further €80 in costs.
Following the hearing, Mr Scanlon stated outside of court that he would be happy to do time in prison for failing to pay the TV license charge, reports Breaking News.
In order to avoid jail time, those who refuse to pay TV license penalties are now thought of attaching earnings orders, recovery orders, and community service before considering jail time.
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,” reports Breaking News.
He said: “Maybe some people who were present might now do something different,” reports Breaking News.
He said: “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,” reports Breaking News.
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