Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

232. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the work her Department has carried out with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection to develop a mechanism for artists that have applied for jobseeker's benefit as part of the Creative Ireland programme; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40266/17]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

My Department, together with the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection, launched a new pilot initiative on 12 June last to make it easier for artists and writers to access social welfare supports.

The initiative which was a key commitment under the Creative Ireland Programme, aims to assist self-employed artists who apply to the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection for Jobseekers Allowance. The pilot initiative, which will be reviewed after one year, applies to visual artists and writers.    

Under the new mechanism, the Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection will provide for the classification of self-employed professional artists in consultation with representative artists organisations such as the Visual Arts Ireland and the Irish Writers Centre.

This new mechanism allows artists to be classified as self-employed for the purposes of accessing social welfare supports. The normal checks and balances will apply to ensure the initiative is not open to abuse, but my hope is that this will make it much easier for professional artists to access social welfare supports when they need them.

Confirmation of self-employed artist status must be obtained from the Visual Arts Ireland or the Irish Writers Centre.  Such artists would not be subject to the activation process for 12 months. The other conditions associated with jobseeker’s allowance will continue to apply, as they do for all other claimants.