A lot of people are going to court for non-payment.
The doorbell rings, you weren’t expecting anyone so it has to be the TV Licence inspector and you don’t answer the door.
That’s the way lots of people lived in Ireland in the last few years.
However, a lot of people bit the bullet and paid the thing, but it turns out thousands of Irish people haven’t.
According to the Irish Times, more than 16,000 summonses were issued for non-payment of TV licences in 2014.
Here’s a breakdown of the numbers of summonses issued in towns and cities around the country:
Athlone 88
Ballina 37
Bray 162
Carlow 104
Carrick On Shannon 57
Cavan 189
Castlebar 107
Clonakilty 125
Clonmel 335
Cork 256
Donegal 10
Dublin 9,761
Dundalk 331
Ennis 393
Galway 306
Kilkenny 108
Letterkenny 78
Limerick 391
Longford 162
Loughrea 86
Mallow 250
Monaghan 82
Mullingar 195
Naas 390
Nenagh 317
Portlaoise 242
Roscommon 39
Sligo 170
Tralee 540
Trim 292
Tullamore 207
Waterford 298
Wexford 399
Youghal 59
A really interesting figure was the amount of people who used the old line that they “didn’t have a television in the house.”
30,000 people actually signed a statutory declaration to say that didn’t own a TV, which is a sign of the amount of people watching stuff on laptops, tablets and smartphones.
The Government naturally want to get around that be bringing in a charge for all households, whether you have a telly or not.
Don’t worry though, that won’t be introduced while the current Government are still in power.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ podcast – listen to the latest episode now!
