Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 18 April 2023
683. Deputy Brendan Griffin asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if she will provide further details on the basic income for the arts scheme (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [17382/23]
View answerOver 9,000 people applied for the Basic Income for the Arts Pilot Scheme (BIA) last year, of which, just over 8,200 were deemed eligible. As the scheme is a pilot it is operating with funding for a maximum of 2,000 recipients of BIA and, 1,000 Control Group members who will receive a payment of €325 per year to participate in the research.
Recipients were chosen through an anonymised random selection process in which all eligible applications were included. This process was overseen by EY acting as an independent verifier.
Of those selected to receive the payment as part of the pilot 2.8% stated that they work through the medium of Irish. Of those 1.2% chose to correspond with the Department through Irish. The geographic data collected provided information on the county applicants lived in and if they were living in rural or urban areas. That data did not provide a breakdown of those living in Gaeltacht areas. However, this is a question the research team can ask in future surveys. No quota for those living in Gaeltacht areas was applied as part of the process. There were no quotas of any kind as the participants needed to be representative of the arts sector so that the research gives accurate data about the impact of the BIA on those working in the arts. The selection process was designed in a way which resulted in a cohort of participants that is representative of those who applied, including geographic location. Any artificially determined quotas could lead to distortions among the selected participants for other unseen variables, which could jeopardise the research.
This pilot is a three-year research programme with the intention of providing an evidence base to assess whether or not this type of support works for the arts. The research will be looking at many different types of impact data from participants including the effect the payment has on their creativity, the amount of time they devote to the arts, their well-being, and their ability to earn additional income from the arts.
