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A number of countries have expressed an interest in Ireland’s basic income for the arts scheme, a pilot project Minister for Culture Patrick O’Donovan has confirmed he wants to make permanent.
Mr O’Donovan said he will introduce proposals for a permanent scheme, “assuming funding for a successor is secured”, in Tuesday’s budget.
The pilot project, introduced by former minister for arts Catherine Martin, was launched in April 2022 to run for three years to support artists and creative arts workers with a €325-a-week payment to 2,000 eligible participants selected by lottery. Mr O’Donovan extended it to February 2026.
Officials from Australia, Wales, South Korea, Canada, Norway, Lithuania, Estonia, “northern European arts councils and the Belgian presidency of the Council of the EU” have sought briefings on the scheme, the Minister said.
“Last year, our officials met with Jane Hutt, member of the Welsh Senedd and cabinet secretary for social justice, to discuss the strengths and challenges of the income pilot.”
A public consultation resulted in 17,000 submissions, with 97 per cent in favour of the scheme’s retention. A cost-benefit analysis by Alma Economics found that for every €1 invested, society receives €1.39 in return, including more than €100 million in social and economic benefits. It also found that recipients’ arts-related income increased by more than €500 per month on average, the Minister said.
He added that cost-benefit analysis “was circulated to colleagues in the Department of Public Expenditure” and “communications with the Department of Social Protection have been ongoing through the pilot”.
Raising the issue in the Dáil last week, Sinn Féin arts spokesman Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked if the 2,000 people currently on the scheme would continue to receive funding or if it would it involve a totally new cohort. He also asked if it would be extended to include more eligible artists.
“Will it be a new scheme? Will it be totally reworked? Will it be an extension of the current scheme?” he asked, also highlighting the difficulties experienced by disabled artists on the scheme, with the loss of medical cards and disability allowance.
Social Democrats TD Sinéad Gibney said artists she had spoken with “live in this uncertainty right now regarding what will happen. We need some certainty.”
She said “there are so many other groups in society who would benefit from a basic income. I am thinking of small farmers, for example, carers, lone parents and disabled people.”
They needed to think about this “if we want to get the best value out of a pilot”.
The Minister replied: “I will stick with artists for the moment.”
Mr O’Donovan said any successor scheme will be predicated, first, on a funding source. “The quantum of the funding source will then determine the number of people that will be able to access it, again, having had discussions with the Department of Social Protection and others.”
A “comprehensive research programme” underpinned the pilot project. It found that recipients were “six percentage points more likely to have worked in the arts in the previous six months” than artists not participating.
Beneficiaries “spend on average 11 weekly hours more on their creative practice; and are 14 percentage points more likely to have completed new works in the previous six months, on average, completing 3.9 pieces of work more than the control group”.
In seeking support for the scheme Mr O’Donovan said the department’s engagement on the issue “is focused on assessing people’s views but also drilling home the value of the scheme, not just to the individual artist but to society and the Government as well. We will continue to do that.”
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