Five summonses for not having a television licence were dismissed at Athlone District Court on Friday as the inspector did not give evidence that there was a television at the properties in question.
A further summons was dismissed as a result of the incorrect address for the respondent being listed on the summons.
An Post inspector Seamus Murphy gave evidence before Judge Patricia Cronin regarding unannounced visits he made to the properties in Athlone in January.
In each case, he said, the respondents did not have a television licence and each still did not have a licence as of Friday. He said a property not having a licence results in a €160 loss to the Revenue Commissioners.
Murphy also gave evidence of serving a summons by registered post on the respondents, who were not present in court, and the service of a notice of declaration around whether they owned a television set or not.
State solicitor Matt Shaw told the judge he had not been contacted by the respondents regarding the notices of declaration.
The properties in question were all in the townland of Lissywollen. The respondents were Maria Macken, of Mill Bank Road, Clonown; Uraiwan Lynch, of Brawny Square; Sophie Stephens, of Brawny Square; Joyce Guilherme, of Brawny Square; Adebo Hamsat, of Brawny Close; and Emer Meade, of Brawny Close.
The judge said there was an issue with the address given for Lynch, who lived on Brawny Square rather than Brawny Drive, which was stated on the summons. She dismissed Lynch’s summons.
Regarding the other respondents, the judge said she was satisfied the service of the summons was in order and that the respondents were on notice of Friday’s hearings.
However, she said that, based on the evidence she heard, “she had no option” but to dismiss those summonses.
To bring a successful summary prosecution regarding a television licence summons it must be shown or evidenced that there was a television set at the premises on the day the inspector visited, she said.
Other respondents who also appeared in court over television licence summonses produced evidence that they had subsequently purchased a television licence, with Cronin consequently striking out their summonses.
The number of people taken to court for not holding a television licence has fallen sharply despite a wave of evasion being set off by the 2023 RTÉ payments controversy.
In 2022, there were over 7,000 television licence summons court cases and just over 6,500 in 2023. The total fell to around 5,000 cases in 2024 and just under 4,800 last year.