Television Licensing in The Republic of Ireland - History

History

Television licences were introduced for the establishment of Telefís Éireann (now RTÉ) in 1962. Radio licences, abolished in 1972, had been introduced by the Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1904 prior to the creation of the Irish Free State in 1922. Non-compliance was widespread until the Wireless Telegraphy Act of 1926 when the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs was empowered to prosecute those with no licence.

Although before 1962 there was no television licence as such, a television set fell under the definition of "wireless receiver"; thus someone possessing a television but no radio would have needed a wireless licence at the same fee as someone with a radio. Conversely between 1962 and 1972, the possessor of a television licence did not need an additional radio licence.

In 1975, members of Conradh na Gaeilge, an Irish language activist group, began campaigning for an Irish-language television station. They adopted tactics learnt from Welsh language activists of Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg, including non-payment of the television licence, and non-payment of fines imposed for not having a licence. This campaign of civil disobedience ended in 1996 with the establishment of Telefís na Gaeilge (now TG4).

Century Radio, Ireland's first licensed solely private-sector broadcaster, began broadcasting in 1990. Minister Ray Burke proposed allocating 25% of the television licence revenues to private-sector broadcasters. The government rejected this, but agreed instead to cap RTÉ's advertising income. A tribunal of enquiry later established that Oliver Barry, an investor in Century Radio, had given Burke a political donation of £30,000. The advertising cap was lifted in 1993.

In the mid 1990s, proposals were floated to distribute funding (licence fee income or otherwise) among broadcasters based on content production, on the model of New Zealand. RTÉ successfully persuaded minister Michael D. Higgins against such a change; although the Sound & Vision scheme now operated effectively provides this, at a low level. RTÉ provide 7% (increased from 5% in 2009) of the licence fee to the Sound and Vision fund which is managed by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI). RTÉ are required by law to commission independent productions with at least 20% of their total licence and 365 hours of programming a year to TG4.