The TV licence fee is a "terrible system" that even RTÉ "don't want to retain," according to a communications lecturer.

Reports this weekend suggest Government is considering introducing a new universal media levy that could be cheaper than the TV licence.

The fee would be collected by Revenue and would be part of a major overhaul of RTÉ's funding model.

Speaking to Newstalk Breakfast, Dublin City University School of Communications associate professor Dr Roddy Flynn said the change would "catch those floating the fee".

"It would catch on people who aren't even floating it," he said. "There are so many advantages to it."

'Bang-up job'

An Post currently charges between €12 to €15 million a year to collect the licence fee, according to Professor Flynn.

"[They] don't do exactly a bang-up job," he said. "We have one of the highest evasion rates in Europe even before the events of the summer in RTÉ."

"If you have a situation whereby you switch to the Revenue Commissioners collecting it, the scope for evasion essentially disappears, the 12 to 15% evasion rate disappears, and you will see a fairly significant increase in the level of revenues.

"There are about 1.8 million households in the country based on the last census – if you stayed with the existing licence fee, that's about €294 million [per year].

"RTÉ last year got €200 million from the licence fee"

Funds

In July of 2022, the Future of Media Commission recommended a number of measures to support "what used to be common sense, public service, media functions," Professor Flynn said.

"[It's] things that maybe aren't that sexy, but which nonetheless are vital – things like court reporting, for example, which local media has done for decades, or indeed centuries, but then they have fallen back on," he said.

"I do think there's an opportunity for a wider conversation about what public service broadcasting actually constitutes, and what sort of stuff should be supported here.

"I think that's actually one of the things that didn't happen during the deliberations of the Future of Media Commission."

Licence fee

Professor Flynn said he is unsure if anyone will publicly support retaining the licence fee.

"The only person I've heard come out and say, 'I think the licence fee is a good idea' in the last couple of months is the Minister for Finance," he said.

"So RTÉ don't want to retain this system; they think it's a terrible system.

"It is a terrible system, virtually nowhere else in Europe has continued doing this."

The State

Professor Flynn said the only advantage the fee has ever offered was the idea that it was "separate from the State".

"Even that's not true, since 2002, the licence fee is meant to be set relative to the consumer price index, but that's subject to the approval of the minister and no minister has approved an increase since 2008," he said.

"It's still in the hands of the State, even if we have a television licence fee.

"So, there's no very strong arguments in favour of retaining that system."