The initiative, which is a key commitment under the Creative Ireland Programme, aims to assist self-employed artists who apply to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection for Jobseekers Allowance. The pilot initiative, which will be reviewed after one year, applies to visual artists and writers. Design of the initiative involved extensive work between my own Department, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, the Arts Council, as well as consultation with artists' representative organisations, in this case Visual Artist Ireland and the Irish Writers Centre.
Under the new mechanism, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection will provide for the classification of self-employed professional artists in consultation with representative artists' organisations such as Visual Arts Ireland and the Irish Writers Centre.
This new mechanism allows artists to be classified as self-employed for the purposes of accessing social welfare supports. The normal checks and balances will apply to ensure the initiative is not open to abuse, but my hope is that this will make it much easier for professional artists to access social welfare supports when they need them.
Confirmation of self-employed artist status must be obtained from Visual Arts Ireland or the Irish Writers Centre. Such artists would not be subject to the activation process for 12 months. The other conditions associated with jobseeker’s allowance will continue to apply, as they do for all other claimants.