Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

It is important to recognise from the beginning that while I appreciate that the minimum basic income for the arts is the responsibility of the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, this is a Government initiative and there is crossover, so I will address them both together. There is genuine concern that the scheme will not be worth the energy or the time required if it means that disabled artists will be under an increased level of scrutiny, having to repeatedly prove and prove again the existence of their disability to the Department of Social Protection. The Indecon report on the cost of disability showed that the average annual cost of living with a disability in Ireland is between €9,482 and €11,734. Although this is outside the Minister’s remit, it should be stated that it is hard to see how the additional financial costs because of a disability were not addressed within the basic income for the arts scheme. I know the Minister said that representatives from her Department are dealing comprehensively with this. She might go into the details of that level of comprehensiveness, into what they have established and into what they will seek to rectify.

The treatment of the income for artists with disabilities comes under the Minister's remit. An artist’s disability will not stop or disappear when they take part in this scheme. Why, therefore, should their social welfare payments and entitlements-----

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