Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 26 January 2023
26. Deputy Seán Haughey asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media if her Department intends to re-open the basic income for the arts scheme for additional applications, given that approximately only 2,000 individuals are in receipt of the scheme. [3573/23]
Amharc ar fhreagra40. Deputy Willie O'Dea asked the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media her plans, if any, to extend the basic income for the arts pilot scheme, given that the pilot scheme is due to run only until 2025. [3579/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 26 and 40 together.
The Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) pilot is a key priority for me as Minister with responsibility for arts and culture.
2,000 recipients are being paid €325 a week for three years. 1,000 control group members are being paid €650 per year to engage in the data collection. The scheme will cost €35m per year (€105m in total).
All 2,000 places have been allocated and accepted. The scheme is a pilot research scheme and is operating within a limited budget. It is not my intention to increase the number of recipients for the scheme at this time.
The research will examine, over a three-year period, the impact of a basic income style payment on artists and creative arts workers. The scheme recognises that there is a vast body of often unpaid or underpaid time that goes into the making of the creative work that we as a society enjoy. The ambition of the scheme is that, by providing the security of a basic income, artists and creative arts workers can focus on artistic work and be in a position to increase their earnings from their creative practice as a self-employed artist/creative.
I believe that the Basic Income for the Arts pilot scheme is a once in a generation, transformational measure in the funding of the arts in Ireland. It makes a strong statement at home and abroad about the value that Ireland as a nation places on artistic practice both for its intrinsic value and in terms of our personal and collective wellbeing, and also in terms of its importance to our identity and cultural distinctiveness on the global stage.
While I have no plans to increase the number of participants in the pilot scheme, the research involved will inform future Government policy in the arts and has the potential to change the landscape of the arts in Ireland and how we fund it.
