Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)

I propose to take Questions Nos. 6, 7, 23, 32 and 56 together.

I was delighted to have secured an allocation for a successor scheme to the basic income for the arts pilot as part of budget 2026. While the detail of the future scheme will need to be agreed by the Government, this is a major milestone for the arts in Ireland. I am particularly pleased that the research my Department conducted provided the Government with a clear evidence base upon which to make the decision.

More than 17,000 submissions were received to the public consultation I held in August.

This is a record for our Department and shows how much interest there is in this scheme. I also held a stakeholder forum to gather input from the sector on plans for a successor scheme. There were over 200 attendees from across the arts sector including resource organisations, local authorities and artists, both recipients and those not on the pilot. Eligibility criteria and parameters for a successor scheme have not yet been finalised.

The cost of the basic income for the arts pilot scheme was €35 million for a full calendar year for 2,000 artists to participate, with each recipient receiving €325 a week. There were over 8,200 eligible applicants to the pilot in 2022. To have funded all those eligible would have cost approximately €139 million per year. Agreement has been secured by the Government for a successor to the basic income for the arts pilot scheme with an allocation of €18.27 million in my Department’s 2026 Estimate. I look forward to the design and delivery of the successor scheme. Consultations and planning in relation to this are currently under way. I can confirm that the basic income for the arts pilot scheme will end in February 2026, which is when the final pilot payment will be made to the current cohort of recipients. We intend to announce a successor scheme and open for applications in the new year. While eligibility has not yet been finalised, a new cohort of recipients will be selected on the basis of eligible applications for a successor scheme. Therefore, it will not be the same 2,000 recipients. Applications to that successor scheme will be based on the eligibility criteria and parameters of that scheme. Those details will be published once they have been agreed by the Government.

The pilot scheme provides a weekly income of €325 to approximately 2,000 randomly selected artists and creative arts workers. The primary objective of the scheme is to help artists to deal with precarious incomes and to prevent talent from leaving the sector for economic reasons. The pilot is underpinned by a robust research project consisting of a randomised controlled trial with a treatment group of 2,000 and a control group of 1,000. It is clear from evidence collected to date that it has a positive impact for those in receipt of it. The data shows that the basic income for the arts is having a consistent, positive impact across all indicators affecting practice development, sectoral retention, well-being and deprivation. According to the data the Department has collected, 51% of artists who do not receive the basic income for the arts are living in enforced deprivation, compared with 16% of the general population. The scheme is therefore a means of addressing consistent poverty in the sector. The data also shows that at the start of the basic income for the arts scheme, the median income earned by those on the scheme was €19,200 per annum, which is 54% lower than the national annual median of €41,823. At the same time, recipients’ arts-related income increased by over €500 per month on average, while their income from non-arts work decreased by around €280. Recently, I published a cost-benefit analysis showing that the real net fiscal cost of the basic income for the arts pilot was just under €72 million over the three years compared with a gross cost of €105 million for the three years. This is because the basic income for the arts generated returns in the form of tax revenues of €36 million and savings in social protection payments of €6.5 million. For every €1 of public money invested in the pilot, society received €1.39 in return. The cost-benefit analysis shows that audience engagement with the arts generated an estimated €16.9 million in social value over the three-year pilot and improvements in psychological well-being contributed almost €80 million to the total benefit. Dependence on social protection declined with recipients receiving €100 less per month on average and they are 38 percentage points less likely to receive jobseeker’s payments. The cost-benefit analysis also shows that the scheme produced over €100 million in social and economic benefits. As I mentioned, for every €1 of public money invested, society received €1.39.

The findings of the latest basic income for the arts report on two years of the payment shows that basic income for the arts recipients, compared with those not in receipt of the basic income for the arts, are six percentage points more likely to have worked, spend on average 11 weekly hours more on their creative practice, are 14 percentage points more likely to have completed new works in the previous six months and invest more financially in their practices. The basic income for the arts research has developed a strong, irrefutable evidence base that the intervention has worked and has consistent positive impacts for those in receipt of it. Artists in receipt of the support are typically able to devote more time to their art, produce more pieces of work, experience a boost to their well-being through greater life satisfaction and reduced anxiety and are protected from the precarious nature of this sector to a greater degree than those who are not receiving the support. The research from the pilot has consistently demonstrated both the positive impact the basic income for the arts has for those in receipt of it and how difficult it is to work as an artist in Ireland given the income precarity prevalent in the sector. The basic income for the arts successor scheme will help to sustain the careers of those artists who will receive it and retain their talent in the arts sector.

Based on the amount allocated to the basic income for the arts subhead in the budget of €18.27 million, the successor scheme will support the practices of at least 2,000 artists in 2026 at €325 per week with payment beginning in quarter 4. Stakeholder consultation and engagement with other relevant Government Departments on the design of the new scheme will continue to determine details such as the duration, eligibility and selection method, the details of which have not yet been agreed or decided. Once the parameters of the scheme have been agreed by the Government, I intend to publish them. I hope to take a proposal to the Government as soon as possible and will aim to open for applications at the earliest opportunity thereafter. While the detail of the future scheme will need to be agreed by the Government, this is a major milestone for artists and the arts in Ireland. I was delighted to have secured an allocation for a successor scheme as part of the budget.

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