Arts Policy

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 21 April 2021

Wednesday, 21 April 2021

Questions (613, 614, 615, 616, 617)

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

613. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the jurisdictions in which the arts sector has specifically been chosen for universal basic income pilots as she stated it had been in an article (details supplied); and if she will provide citations for studies or reports conducted into these universal basic income pilot schemes that were specific to the arts sector describing their success or otherwise. [18563/21]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

614. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if she will provide or cite any evidence or studies upon which she based her statement that universal basic income is proven to encourage entrepreneurship and enhanced creativity in an article (details supplied). [18564/21]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

615. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media her views on whether basic income for artists must be index-linked to take account of inflation. [18565/21]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

616. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media her views on whether basic income for artists must be based on the living wage rather than the minimum wage alone in order to cover basic living costs. [18566/21]

Aengus Ó Snodaigh

Question:

617. Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media the estimated annual cost of providing the universal basic income pilot as proposed by the Arts and Culture Recovery Taskforce in the A Life Worth Living report published in November 2020 to all workers in the arts sector including those not currently in receipt of the pandemic unemployment payment. [18567/21]

Written answers

Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media

I propose to take Questions Nos. 613 to 617, inclusive, together.

The Programme for Government contained a commitment to request the Low Pay Commission to examine Universal Basic Income, informed by a review of previous international pilots, and resulting in a universal basic income pilot in the lifetime of the Government.

The Arts and Culture Recovery Taskforce report titled Life Worth Living, was published in November 2020 and made ten recommendations for the sector. The recommendations included a proposal to pilot a universal basic income scheme for a three-year period in the arts, culture, audiovisual and live performance and events sectors. The Taskforce considered that a pilot basic income would keep the sector intact, minimising the loss of skills and contributing to its gradual regrowth, with ongoing benefits: social and economic, local and national.

Over the past 50 years or so, basic income pilots have been carried out at varying scales in some of countries including the US, Germany, Italy, Finland and the Netherlands. Under the French intermittents du spectacle system, an actor or technician who works for 507 hours in 10-and-a-half months gains benefits for the fallow periods between intermittent contracts.

I believe the arts sector represents an appropriate area for a pilot basic income scheme for many reasons. It is characterised by low, precarious and often seasonal income. Artistic and creative work is intrinsically valuable to society; it includes a broad mix of employment types and it has been chosen for similar pilots in other jurisdictions.

Action on a pilot basic income scheme will not come primarily from my Department. Like many financial supports before and during the pandemic, appraisal of the proposal will be a matter for relevant Government Departments. I am at present establishing an Oversight Group to report back to me on outstanding recommendations made by the Taskforce and I will be asking the group to prioritise consideration of the Taskforce's recommendation in relation to a basic income scheme.