OPINION: No judge should prosecute for no TV licence until Dee Forbes answers questions

Just as RTE are volleying another scandal in the shape of its board not actually signing off on the monumental flop that was Toy Show The Musical, thousands of people are getting summonsed for not paying their TV licence. 

The musical made a €2.2m loss for RTE in 2022, the equivalent of around 13,750 TV licences, and the debacle has been explained away without much recourse. Public money squandered in a curtain call of jazz hands without board approval and yet the news cycle moves on.

Where is the political outrage that washed over the country last summer when we were hearing day after day of financial fiasco at RTE through Oireachtas briefings? The TV cameras were there and TDs and Senators were doing handstands that would outdo anyone on the Toy Show The Musical stage in order to get their sound bite heard.

Between barter accounts and fancy London venue memberships, Ryan Tubridy's Renault payments and years of mismanagement of public money, the country was shocked and rightly up in arms. People seemingly refused to pay their €160 TV licence in protest. People are still doing that now and fair play to them.

Back in 2023, there was anecdotal evidence of judges refusing to prosecute people hauled before them over non-payment of the charge. Proper order too! There isn't a judge in the country who should be prosecuting anyone now in 2024 as summonses pile up. If I had the gumption, I'd be one of the holdouts but the fear factor of the summons threat in the post in early January prompted me to pay for my well-out-of-date TV licence. 

I have a great deal of respect for anyone who is withholding their TV licence on a matter of principle because RTE has not been reformed and the Director-General at the time of most of these financial faux pas is nowhere to be seen. Dee Forbes ran the proverbial ship into the iceberg and then hopped overboard and left the petty officers deal with the fallout. 

We saw that band of officers traipse up and down Kildare Street and into Oireachtas committees last year to answer questions as the public poured over the offending balance sheets. How many of them batted away questions by saying it wasn't their job? Some of them have even since retired or resigned with very little repercussion, if any at all. Not least Dee Forbes who hasn't surfaced since the scandal broke and never once answered to the public last year. No one should be prosecuted for having no TV licence until she answers questions and there is legitimate consequences for the people responsible for the financial impropriety at the broadcaster. 

As many as 60 people a day are now being summonsed for not paying their TV licence, latest figures reveal. Figures released by the Department of Media show that more than 13,000 were summonsed to appear before the courts last year for non-payment, with the numbers facing prosecution since the controversy broke increasing by 33% a month.

In total, the number of cases brought before various district courts was 8,612. Those who do not pay the TV licence face fines of up to €1,000 or a term in prison. This is a scandal in and of itself. Not one of these people should be dealt the indignity of walking into a courtroom while there still remains so much unresolved at RTE.

What has really changed in the few months since? Yes, a new Director General is cutting the station's cloth to measure and is making very welcome changes, not least the capping of ridiculous salaries paid to top 'talent' but that doesn't fully address the blatant wrongs committed at the station over a long period of time. Someone must answer for those before we can really move on.

A series of statements from RTE acknowledging the mistake made is not nearly adequate. If you receive an extra €5 in your Social Welfare or are taxed €5 less than you should have been in your wages, the arms of Government are not long about reaching into your pocket and taking back what you owe them. I'm not satisfied that one person in RTE has been dealt with properly for their collective handling of the payments scandal. 

We've effectively been given the usual response we get get with any public scandal; there is a public flogging where every politician in the country is none too delighted to get involved and throw a few rotten tomatoes. Then there is a review from all angles, internal, the government, independent bodies, blah, blah, blah. And then we're razzle-dazzled with wishy-washy PR speak; 'there will be learnings from this' and an 'action group is being established' and on and on it goes until they think people aren't looking anymore. 

It's all very predictable but still very disappointing that this is the level of scrutiny, or lack thereof, our public bodies are held to when they are spending our money on trips to the Champions League final for advertising clients, or flip flops of all things. Sometimes you feel like laughing because the whole thing is so incredible but then you check the postbox, and after all is said and done, you're still the one being held to account over €160.