Independent broadcaster TV3 is to lay off 13 people and close its Belfast office in a round of cuts that it yesterday blamed on the impact of RTÉ's licence fee on the market.

The station plans to let go 13 of its 160 staff. A reporter and cameraman employed at its Belfast bureau, which the broadcaster intends to close, will be laid off. TV3 said it would also cut certain operating budgets.

The broadcaster blamed the impact of RTÉ's licence fee increase on the market.

"The unrestricted use of such funding has caused market distortions that have negatively affected potential advertising revenues that underwrite programme production, and programme cost and availability to TV3," it said in a statement.

TV3 has in the past complained to both the European Commission and the Irish Competition Authority about RTÉ's use of the licence fee.

But National Union of Journalists' (NUJ) Irish secretary, Mr Séamus Dooley, dismissed TV3's claim as spurious.

"We are especially concerned at the decision to close the Northern Ireland office," he said.

Mr Dooley added that its reporter, Mr Adrian Horsman, was outstanding.

The station said its investors, which include British independent Granada, remained fully committed to the company.

The statement said it was the second most viewed station in the State.

TV3 said, despite the cuts, it was likely it would increase spending on home-produced programmes this year.