New figures show TV licence fee renewals dropped by 25 per cent in the first week of July.
The figures released to Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin show 3,428 fewer households renewed their licence fee when compared with the same time last year.
There was also a significant fall off in new TV licence sales, which were down almost 40% on the previous year.
Deputy Griffin says unless urgent action is taken RTE could be facing a funding crisis.
'There's a huge problem here and now there needs to be a contingency plan put in place between RTE and the Minister to address this problem before RTE sees a real funding crisis develop.'
