Ms Katherine Licken:

The television licence fee receipts comprise two components: the contribution from the Department of Social Protection in respect of the free licences issued under the household benefit scheme; and the direct sales by An Post. In terms of 2020, in the period from 13 March to the end of 2020, inspectors could only operate as normal for two months. They were off the road completely for four months and they operated on a non-contact basis for three and a half months. The latter involved putting cards in letter-boxes but not knocking on doors. In 2021, there was no physical activity at the doors by the licence inspectors for four months, non-contact only resumed on 10 May and full inspections resumed from 14 June.

Obviously, this had an impact on the licence fee receipts, with a sharp decline in sales for the first half of the year and marginal recovery in the middle of the year - this was in 2020 when restrictions eased. The second lockdown was put in place then, in autumn 2020, which meant that sales did not recover to the levels it expected. The fact that licence fee revenue remained static at €222 million in 2020 is largely due to the increased Exchequer contribution from the Department of Social Protection.