Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The Senator raises very valid points which I will bring back to the Minister, Deputy Martin. While the Minister is optimistic that the basic income payment is having a positive impact on those receiving it, she is very cognisant of the data which is emerging about the difficult conditions in which artists find themselves more generally. Therefore, she held the status of the artist conference in May, which the Senator attended, that focused on income and working conditions in the arts in Ireland. A year on, the BIA payment is having a consistently positive impact across almost all indicators, affecting practice development, sectoral retention, well-being and deprivation. Artists in receipt of the support are typically able to devote more time to their art, have a boost to their well-being through greater life satisfaction and reduced anxiety, and are protected from the precariousness of incomes in the sector to a greater degree than those who are not receiving it. That is all really positive. We have to be mindful as well that we cannot make that commitment but all of the key indications are here that it is very positive. Along with the Minister, I thank the Senator and his colleagues in the Seanad for raising this point and discussing it here today. We will keep a very close eye on it.