Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister. The fact that 9,000 people applied for the basic income for artists suggests the desire to have that basic income. It also indicates the number of people who are struggling.

That is why I had assumed the full amount of the savings from a scheme set out for that would have gone directly to the funding of some type of hardship scheme. Given the council or the Department already had the assessment of their means and everything else, it could have been repurposed in a one-off grant to many of those. That is not to take away from all the organisations to which the Minister has committed to giving additional moneys to help them through the cost-of living crisis and with fuel costs in particular. I do not believe the €12 million from the €15 million scheme will make its way back to the artist directly. Some will be going on administrative costs and some on overheads but not on the overheads of the individual artists, in the main.