Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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109. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the criteria and timeline for the pilot scheme for arts and culture workers; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [55224/21]

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I refer to the basic income pilot scheme for workers in arts and culture sector. Will the Minister give assurances that all disciplines of arts, culture and music and the crew that support the artists and performers, will be eligible to apply for the pilot scheme?

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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Since I was appointed the Minister, there has been an incredible focus on the supports needed for this sector. We have had many discussions here about the value of this sector. For years, people have talked about its value while not placing an actual value on it.

I have also focused on the number one recommendation of the arts and culture recovery task force, which related to this pilot scheme, because I saw an opportunity post Covid to place that value on those sectors and to support them. We know that uncertainty about how they can live can prevent musicians and actors from creating. That is why I was delighted to secure that commitment in the national economic recovery plan, which emphasises my commitment to the intrinsic value of culture and the arts to society, which we really saw during the pandemic. These people were deprived of opportunities to perform and earn a living. The next step was to secure that €25 million in the budget for this three-year pilot.

As I said to Deputy Berry earlier, while stakeholder engagement in general is ongoing, facilitated stakeholder engagement will take place next month. I want to cover the disciplines the Deputy mentioned, but with the engagement of the sector. I have mentioned emerging artists, arts workers and everything the Deputy has referred to. This will all have to be teased out in close consultation with the sector. Everything I have done with regard to the sector has been done in close consultation with it. This is a very important issue. What we are doing is groundbreaking and we need to do it properly. That is why I want that consultation with the sector.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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I appreciate what the Minister said. I and, more importantly, people in the sector have campaigned for this for a long time because income and employment insecurity is rampant. While I welcome this measure, let us not sit back on our laurels and act as if this is a panacea. We should remember that the background to this, which I acknowledge predates the Minister's tenure, is that we see spend six times less on the arts and culture sector, as a proportion of our GDP, than most countries in Europe. It also does not help for us to sell off infrastructure that we helped to pay for in the first place. Imagine if the Abbey Theatre was flogged off and people had to apply for a job each time there was a play on. The backdrop to this is that we need more income and employment security in general and more funding to create that security in the film, art and music sectors. It is important that everyone be eligible for this pilot scheme.

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I am in agreement with the Deputy about that underfunding but things have changed. I secured an unprecedented and record level of funding for the Arts Council this year on foot of last year. I held onto that €130 million. I secured funding of €25 million for this income guarantee pilot. It is to be a three-year pilot so I will obviously seek to secure that funding for three years, and I will secure it because I have a commitment from Government. The intention of the pilot scheme is to study whether such a measure will contribute to ensuring those in the arts sector have that security blanket of knowing that money will come in to help them to do what they do best, to create. It aims to ensure the arts sector remains intact and to provide the artists and creatives with the opportunity to increase their practices, thereby minimising the loss of skills and contributing to the sector's gradual regrowth. It is a no-brainer. I can see why it was the number one recommendation, which is why I am absolutely delighted to have been able to secure that commitment from Government.

Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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As I said, I genuinely welcome this pilot. It is a step forward. It is a pity it took a pandemic for us to realise just how important culture and arts are to us and how life is so much diminished when those in the sector are not able to perform live and so on. I hope we have learned something from the pandemic in this regard. While I welcome the scheme, does the fact that it is for three years mean that we cannot expand it before those three years are up? Perhaps the Minister could clarify that. I would hate to think that this would become a substitute for much more thorough reform of the sector and increased investment to tackle the more general problem, which is the lack of overall investment in permanent infrastructure in arts, music and culture and the jobs that go with that infrastructure. I always contrast our situation with that of Germany. Virtually every village in Germany has a theatre with a full complement of performers, artists and crew who are securely employed. A great many of our artists and culture workers lack that security. That is what we should be aiming towards.

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I assure the Deputy that it did not take a pandemic for me to appreciate the arts. I am looking around the Chamber and there are many Deputies here who grew up surrounded and enriched by the arts. I do not think I am alone in that. I am looking at Deputy Boyd Barrett and it certainly did not take a pandemic for him to appreciate the arts either. I am in a position where I can make a difference. That is why I am delighted to have been able to secure this commitment.

With regard to the three-year pilot, this duration was specified in the number one recommendation of the stakeholders' group. I can go through the detail. It is on page 42 of the arts and culture recovery task force's report. I am taking guidance from, and being steered by, the sector itself. We will tease that out in our engagement with the sector, especially in the world café-style engagement to be held in December. That is where that detail came from.