I am familiar with the Low Pay Commission’s report on piloting a Universal Basic Income, and its accompanying research report, authored by ESRI under the terms of the Low Pay Commission / ESRI Research Partnership Agreement, titled ‘A universal basic income for Ireland: Lessons from the international literature’, both submitted by the Low Pay Commission during 2022.
In their report the Low Pay Commission noted that “the recommendations and guidelines in this report regarding how UBI might be piloted in Ireland should not be seen as an implicit endorsement of the concept of a UBI by the Low Pay Commission. The Low Pay Commission was not asked to evaluate the concept of a UBI. Nor was it asked to evaluate whether or not UBI should be piloted”.
The Commission’s report describes five general principles that the Low Pay Commission recommends for the design of any UBI pilot for Ireland.
It also provides ten guidelines which may help in the design of a UBI pilot for Ireland. The report notes that “these should be seen as non-binding guidelines, which should be developed upon as a pilot is designed”.
These ten guidelines, which the report noted should be contingent on the policy preferences of Government, included the establishment of an interdepartmental working group and obtaining legal advice on the establishment of a universal basic income scheme.
As I noted in my response to Parliamentary Question No.50 of 08 February 2023, the Commission on Taxation and Welfare recently reported that “The Commission does not support the development of a Universal Basic Income in Ireland” and that “Further, it is noted that resourcing such a pilot project may detract from the State’s ability to fund means-tested welfare schemes, or other targeted measures to address poverty.”
Given the recent implementation of Basic Income for the Arts scheme, and the views of the Commission on Taxation and Welfare on the development of Universal Basic Income in Ireland, there are no plans to introduce or further trial Universal Basic Income at this time.
