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

As I said, I assure the Deputy that the issue of disabled artists participating in the BIA scheme was and is a matter I take very seriously. Issues around the disability allowance are something my officials and I were aware of at the very outset of planning this intervention. I understand how important the social welfare payments, and issues such as medical cards, are for people with disabilities but, that being said, I have no statutory function regarding those issues.

There was stakeholder engagement and I was determined from the outset of this scheme that artists with disabilities would be in a position to participate. To that end, bilateral engagement took place between my Department and the Department of Social Protection prior to the launch of the scheme.

There are barriers and that is something that very much came out in the research element of this. This is a pilot scheme and it may well end up shedding light on this particular issue which would be of benefit to those artists with disability. As I said earlier, we emphasised very clearly to those participating that they need to examine their own individual circumstances.

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