Fintan Warfield (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I was. We can all agree that artists, writers and performers should be supported to produce their work. While the artists' social welfare pilot scheme is a very welcome initiative and long overdue, the current pilot unfortunately fails to recognise artists as self-employed and aligns itself closer to a jobseekers model of social welfare. In reality there are few jobs for artists. There is none listed in the employment sections of our newspapers or online. Under the scheme, writers and visual artists can only receive jobseekers allowance for up to a year without being, as it were, activated. The individual artist or writer therefore only has 12 months to complete his or her work before being required to find alternative work, of which there is none.Therefore, the individual artist or writer has just 12 months in which to complete his or her work before he or she is required to find alternative work, of which there is none. Such a timeframe does not reflect the reality of working life for visual artists and writers. I suggest the scheme needs to be restructured to be inclusive of artists, rather than treating them as jobseekers as they work. Sinn Féin is concerned that it is proposed to review the scheme after a year in light of the low rate of response to it. Just 24 artists have availed of this pilot scheme to date. Separately, the scheme should be extended to performing artists, including performers and musicians. The Government needs to explain why they have been excluded from the scheme. It is by consulting the cultural sector and exploring successful artist welfare schemes in other EU member states that Ireland can establish best practice and create a scheme that enjoys the confidence of artists and supports those who are struggling to make ends meet. I would like the new Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Deputy Madigan, to address the House on this issue.