Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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6. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment when he intends to reopen the basic income for the arts scheme to new applicants. [64552/25]

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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7. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment the status of the progress made regarding the establishment of a permanent basic income for the arts scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [64387/25]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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23. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will expand the number eligible for the basic income for the arts scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [64162/25]

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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32. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will outline his proposals regarding the continuation of the basic income for the arts scheme. [64393/25]

Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, Solidarity)
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56. To ask the Minister for Communications, Climate Action and Environment if he will extend the scope of the basic income for the arts scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [64161/25]

Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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When will the Minister reopen the basic income for artists scheme? We need to encourage the arts in Ireland. As a country that rates culture and the arts so highly, we must encourage new and emerging artists to thrive through every art form.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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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.

Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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I thank the Minister for his response. While Sinn Féin welcomes the six-month extension to the basic income scheme for artists, they are at a loss to know what is going to happen now. The date when the Minister intends to roll out this scheme would be very helpful. He said quarter 4 but what is the actual date? What are artists supposed to do if this extension only goes to February and the scheme is not reopening until quarter 4? I ask the Minister to look at that again. There was actually a €2 million cut in the budget to the scheme. This is going to have an effect on all the artists getting paid from this scheme. I also that people with disabilities be included in the scheme. They are being left behind again, stripped of their basic allowance and not allowed to apply for a medical card through the means test they are subject to.

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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We in the Social Democrats welcome this programme. It has been wonderful. My office has spoken to dozen of artists who tell me that no matter the medium, the scheme has meant they have been able to produce more art, has helped them to have healthier and happier lives and has allowed their art to get to more people. There are paintings, sculptures, poems and plays that simply would not exist without this scheme. We genuinely feel passionately that it is a positive element. It is helpful to know that the eligibility criteria will be published as soon as possible because I know people in the artistic community are waiting with bated breath to understand how it will run. I think I heard in the Minister's answer that those who have been in the existing pilot will not be eligible for the second scheme, or did I get that wrong? Will the Minister clarify? Will those who have been on the scheme be able to reapply? I share the same concerns that there is a six-month gap and people with disabilities are being penalised.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I welcome that people are so supportive of the scheme. There is a complication with regard to how the scheme runs forward because the pilot was due to end on 31 December, but out of savings in our Department's resources we are able to extend it to February to give an extra two months. At the same time, I mentioned the level of consultation we are doing in the Department. It is probably the largest consultative process we have ever done in the Department. It shows the range of opinions. Not everybody agrees on the mechanisms that should be imported for a new scheme. There is a large cohort for whom this scheme was not an option. I have to make sure that whatever we do is fair and reflective of similar schemes the Government also runs with randomised selection and things like that. The people outside the scheme at the moment are every bit as anxious to know if they will get a chance to come in. If it is the same cohort who roll over again, that is not fair to the people outside of it. I think both Deputies would agree we have to make sure whatever we do is fair. There is also a level of engagement we have to do with the Department of Social Protection with regard to the issues raised. Ultimately, changes in eligibility for Department of Social Protection schemes are a matter for the Minister for Social Protection. I hope that once this level of engagement and consultation with the sector, which is ongoing and led by my Department, has finished, I will be in a position to bring forward shortly - I will not give a date - a proposal to the Government which will get its agreement. I remind the House that since my appointment as Minister for the arts, I have made sure this is to be put on a permanent footing. When I came into the Department, there was no prospect of this being retained. That should be seen as a big positive given the budgetary discussions we had.

Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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It is disappointing to hear that artists who have already been on it will not be considered. These artists deserve an ability to plan for their future. Some have been tied into mortgages, etc., and they are going to be at a loss with this. I also mentioned that people with disabilities were stripped of basic allowances and even medical cards through means tests if they participated. I ask the Minister to look at that again. I also ask him to look at comedians being considered under this tranche. It is disappointing, in the context of the Bill proposed by Deputy Aengus Ó Snodaigh that we debated last week, that artists and comedians are not allowed to apply for this funding.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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That is not the case.

Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Is the Minister telling me they are allowed to apply? In relation to the six-month gap, what are people to do in those six months?

Sinéad Gibney (Dublin Rathdown, Social Democrats)
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I thank the Minister for the information. We share his passion for this programme. My concern is that it seems that a pilot was run and we are just getting another pilot. We need more certainty, more permanence and a broader cohort of people who can access it. I raised in previous sessions with the Minister the idea that a pilot should also be something that we capture the data from and potentially offer to other cohorts in society. At that time, he dismissed it. He said that he was just looking after his Department and that it was not fair to expect that he would be sharing those results with Cabinet colleagues to identify other cohorts in Irish society who could benefit from a basic income. In the last couple of weeks, in the culture, communications and sport committee, we have identified that a good group of people who would be eligible for this or would potentially benefit from it is journalists, who are within the Minister's area. I also would like to raise again that seasonal farmers are another group. There are lots of groups in Irish society to which this could apply. If we let this pass by without capturing this data, learning from it and seeing how we can apply it to others, we are missing a trick.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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I have a question down on this issue, but for some reason it has not been grouped with these questions even though it is on the exact same matter. How long will the new cohort be on the basic income scheme? Maybe the Minister has not worked that out. I think he said that €18 million has been set aside for next year. That indicates that this scheme will not start until June if it is the same funding of €325 a week.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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I have not worked out that detail yet. As soon as I do, I will take it to the Government.

With regard to journalists, we have journalistic schemes that are operated from my Department, including the court reporting scheme and the supporting democracy schemes. The Deputy might not be aware of them but we support them. I have not dismissed other Departments using basic income, but I am not the Minister for agriculture, as I have said three or four times at this stage. If the Minister for agriculture wants to bring in a basic income for farmers scheme, that is his prerogative. I am the Minister for arts.

I never said that people on the existing scheme would not be able to apply for the new scheme. That is an unfortunate conflation Deputy Bennett is trying to do here. I do not know whether that is to try to instil fear in the artists. Let me be clear: I have not made a decision with regard to eligibility, or who will or will not be able to apply. As soon as I do, I will go to the Government with it and it will be brought back to the House. To be honest about it, a lot of people are worried. To use that fear today is not something the Deputy should do. Most people in the arts community are very welcoming of the fact that we have permanency of this scheme going forward. Deputy Bennett mentioned mortgages and things like that. She suggested that I am somehow going to scrap the existing 2,000. I never said that. She should reflect on that.

Cathy Bennett (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Thank you for the clarification.

Patrick O'Donovan (Limerick County, Fine Gael)
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With regard to the Bill that was debated last week, Deputy Ó Snodaigh knows quite well my view with regard to comedy. That pertains to the Arts Council and Arts Council grants, which are a totally different thing. I have made my views clear with regard to the Arts Council and the funding of things like country music, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, comedy and other genres of arts which are currently not funded by the Arts Council. I am awaiting a report, which I am sure will probably be due any day now, from Professor Niamh Brennan with regard to the serious governance issues at the Arts Council. It is prudent and responsible to receive that first before I consider any other legislation with regard to the Arts Council that would involve having to come back after Christmas with a second Bill. I am sure people like the Deputy would be the first to ask why I did not wait for the report to be finished.