Niamh Smyth (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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55. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the status of the basic income for the arts pilot scheme. [47258/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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Over 9,000 applications were made under the scheme with over 8,200 assessed as eligible according to the published guidelines for the scheme.  Eligible applications were then included in a randomised anonymous selection process to choose the participants.  This process was overseen by EY acting as an independent verifier. Over 8,200 eligible applicants were included in the anonymised randomised selection to select the 2,000 BIA recipients and the control group of 1,000 participants.

The process of applicants accepting their places on the scheme and providing bank details to facilitate payment is almost complete and I would expect the first payment to issue shortly.

This is a research project and the main element of the research programme is a longitudinal study with the same survey being delivered every 6 months for 3 years. The data collected as part of the research will inform future Government policy in relation to how best to support artists.

Pauline Tully (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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56. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the interactions she has had with the Minister for Social Protection to ensure disabled artists in receipt of the basic income for the arts will not lose their disability allowance or blind pension; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [47515/22]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I was determined since the outset of the Basic Income for the Arts pilot scheme that artists with disabilities would be in a position to participate in the scheme to the greatest extent possible within the legislative framework to ensure the research captured the experience of disabled artists. 

To that end bilateral engagement has been ongoing between my Department and the Department of Social Protection for over a year, to get agreement that the payment will be treated as earnings from self-employment and can be taken into account in earnings disregards that applies to many social welfare payments including Disability Allowance.  That means that the basic income for the arts will be treated like any other income a person on social welfare earns from employment.  

The actual impact of the Basic Income on a person's welfare entitlements will depend on each individual’s circumstances, applicants will need to engage with the Department of Social Protection on the matter.   The Department of Social Protection has undertaken to engage directly with disabled artists who are selected for the pilot to help them understand the impact accepting the payment would have in their individual circumstances.

The Department of Social Protection were also represented on the Oversight Committee I established tasked with advising on how best to implement the Arts and Culture Recovery Taskforce Report of which the basic income for the arts was the number one recommendation.