Independent broadcasters are calling on the Government to reform the TV licence.

The call is being made after the Department of Communications confirmed it is scrapping plans for a new broadcasting charge.

It had been planned that the fee would replace the €160 TV licence and would have had to be paid -even if households did not own a television.

John Purcell, chairman of the Independent Broadcasters of Ireland, said that even if the proposed new system isn’t going ahead, the Government still needs to rework the exiting one.

“It costs too much to collect, I think it costs a million a month, it needn’t be that expensive to collect,” he said.

“And also, I think the evasion rates are about 15%, which means about €40m.”

He added: “But on the other side of things, RTÉ Dublin have a monopoly on public service broadcasting, so the money needs to go on supporting public service broadcasting of all hues.”