Ms Emilie Conway:

There are huge problems with the basic income scheme. I would source that to the task force, which was devoid of disabled artists or disabled people working in the arts to inform the creation of the scheme. We raised this with the Minister. We got a meeting pretty much after it was a done deal. We have experience with other disabled artists who have had their disability allowance cut. They are now afraid to do any work at all or apply for any grants because if it is cut more they will be in more trouble and could risk losing their medical card. There is also a problem with the research that has been issued. It does not allow disabled artists to share this experience. It is not structured in a way that disabled artists can actually show the additional stress and medical problems they are having as a result of having gotten the basic income scheme. There is no excuse for this. We raised this at a stakeholder meeting in December 2021 and something could have been set up with the Department of Social Protection so that any disabled artist would be put through a streamlined process. Instead, every disabled artist is having an individual harrowing experience. I also know of people who have had staff from the Department of Social Protection come to their house and literally rifle through their drawers because they got the basic income scheme. As I said, we had a meeting with the Minister in September and commitments were made that were not followed up on. There has been no consistency and no follow-ups at all. We are very disappointed about that.