Claire Kerrane (Roscommon-Galway, Sinn Fein)
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201. To ask the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment if his Department has engaged with the Low Pay Commission regarding a review of universal basic income as set out in the Programme for Government; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20215/21]

Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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The Programme for Government includes a commitment to ‘Request the Low Pay Commission to examine Universal Basic Income, informed by a review of previous international pilots, and resulting in a universal basic income pilot in the lifetime of the Government’.

Earlier this year, I formally requested the Low Pay Commission to examine this issue.

The LPC is currently finalising terms of reference for this study and the ESRI are being engaged to complete this work before the end of the year.

The study will examine UBI pilots that have taken place in other countries to identify what was learnt that could be relevant to a pilot in Ireland. It will also seek to identify what policy objectives a UBI pilot could examine and associated fiscal implications.

It will conclude with recommendations on how a UBI pilot in Ireland could be designed.