Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. As Minister with responsibility for arts and culture, I am conscious of the value the sector brings to all Irish citizens and how art is an inherent part of Ireland's cultural identity. The importance of Irish culture, art and productions as a whole cannot be understated. It contributes to individual and societal well-being, as well as contributing to Ireland's reputation as a country with a rich cultural history and output.

I was delighted that as part of the national economic recovery plan I secured a commitment from Government to prioritise the development of a basic income pilot scheme for the arts and cultural sector. Funding for the basic income for the arts pilot scheme was a key priority of mine for budget 2022 and I allocated €25 million to launch the pilot scheme this year.

Stakeholder engagement has been central to my Department's response to the pandemic. As the Deputy will be aware, my Department held a stakeholder consultation last month on the basic income for the arts to provide the arts sector, those working in it and resource bodies and representative organisations with the opportunity to engage with the policy development and share their views. Over 150 participants from 50 artists and arts worker resource and representative bodies came together to discuss the proposal and provide their views and feedback to me and my Department. This included three participants from the MEAI.

Following the forum, I launched a public consultation on the pilot basic income for the arts on Thursday, 6 January. The consultation will remain open until 27 January. The purpose of the online consultation is to ensure that the public, artists and those working in the arts and culture sector have the opportunity to contribute to the policy development of the pilot scheme and to offer suggestions from their experiences as artists, art workers and members of resource organisations on key issues, such as scheme objectives, eligibility criteria, supporting emerging artists and participant responsibilities. To date, the public consultation has received over 500 submissions, reflecting the significant level of interest in this new policy intervention.

I am aware of the feedback received from the organisation referred to by the Deputy and there will be a stream for developing artists but it will be for a smaller number of individuals than the practising artists and creative art worker streams. It is important to include a number of developing artists in the scheme in order that the research programme can determine the impact of a basic income at all stages of career development.

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