RTE licence fee income is down €1.86m in July

Number sold plummets 37% in just one week

- LOUISE BURNE

THE number of TV licences fees sold in the third week of July plummeted by 37%, new figures have shown.

It brings the total loss for RTE this month alone to €1.86million.

It follows weeks of sustained decreases in the number of people paying the €160 fee in the wake of the financial crisis at the national broadcaster.

Figures previously provided by the Department of Media showed that licence fee sales had fallen for the first two weeks of this month.

New figures show the figures have now plummeted even further.

A spokesman for the Department confirmed during the third week of July, 9,279 licences were sold.

This is down from 14,836 during the same period last year.

It represents a drop of 37% or 5,557 fewer licences.