Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

There is no interim report to date. The Minister might ask why I am tabling this question again so soon after September, but I am a little concerned. It is a revolutionary idea. The Government is to be praised for proposing in the programme for Government to have a universal basic income. I am a little worried about the language creep. For example, different words are used. The question the Minister answered for me is on a universal basic income, and rightly so. Then we look at what is planned for the artists. What the task force asked for is a universal basic income, but that has become a working age payment or a different type of language. I am a little worried about that. I am also worried that in a previous response the Minister said he would be informed by that. Of course, we must learn from the project for the artists, but it is not a universal basic income. That is what they requested, but that is not what appears to be rolled out. Again, it seems to be limited to a small number of artists and it would be done through a lottery. I know it is not the Minister's area, but there is an overlap and the Minister said he would learn from that. However, they are two distinct things.

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