Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail)
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419. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the number of court prosecutions initiated by An Post in each of the years 2014 to 2018; the result of each of these court cases; the number and values of fines issued in each year; the value of fines collected each year; the value of fines still outstanding in respect of these prosecutions; the arrangements in place to collect the outstanding fines; if he will provide an age analysis of these outstanding fines; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15344/19]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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Under the Broadcasting Act, 2009, An Post is the designated agent, acting on my behalf, for the collection of the Television Licence fee. In line with the Act, An Post deals with all day to day operational matters of the current licence fee regime.An Post makes every effort to bring evaders into the licensed pool and a considerable amount of time and resources are spent in dealing specifically with this issue. An Post concentrates its initial efforts on getting people to buy the licence when due and by following up with a series of reminder notices and inspector visits. Bringing people to court is a last resort and only carried out where all other means have failed.

The number of summons issued and cases brought to court between 2014 and 2018 are set out in the following table:

The imposition and collection of fines for non-payment of TV licence fees are a matter for the Courts Service in conjunction with An Garda Síochána. No statistics for fine collection, non-payment of fines or age analysis of outstanding fines are provided to An Post by the Courts Service.