Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)

I do not think we should confine this to artists; that is my entire point. I also push back on the suggestion of renaming of it. The concept of a "basic income" is something that has been championed for many decades now as a way to provide certainty and a safety net for many people who live with precarious labour. I mentioned farmers. There are seasonal farmers who have to spend months of the year signing on when we could look at a much more concrete way of assisting people in moving between the different contributions they make to society. I could mention caring as an example. We spoke about carers a lot yesterday. My point is that if we want to get the value of it as a pilot, the Minister, who sits at Cabinet, should be working across government to look at ways in which it could be extended to other groups.

I echo Deputy Ó Snodaigh's comments on those with disabilities who have had issues with this scheme in terms of loss of medical cards and disability allowance. I urge that this be addressed in any next iteration of it.

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