The dreaded television licence will be no more from next year even though outstanding bills will still have to be settled.

A scheme will be launched to allow people with unpaid TV licences to come clean and regularise their position without paying any fines.

Finance Minister Tonio Fenech said the removal of the licence would leave about €4 million in families’ pockets.

The removal of the licence was one of the Nationalist Party’s 353 electoral promises in the 2008 general election.

However, the government had become frustrated with the number of people believed not to be paying their TV licence – which numbered about 35,000 in October last year – and warned at the time that it was considering legal action against defaulters.

The scheme, which is yet to be fleshed out, is likely to be an alternative way to recoup the estimated €1.2 million the government is owed in arrears.

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