Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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60. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht if she will provide a report on the pilot basic income for artists scheme; if she intends to implement it for all artists; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [3723/23]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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79. To ask the Minister for Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht the progress that has been made to date in the pilot scheme to provide a basic income to artists; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [2836/23]

Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 60 and 79 together.

The Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) pilot is a key priority for me as Minister with responsibility for arts and culture. Covid clearly highlighted both the precarious nature of working in the arts and the importance of the arts for us all. It is well established that artists suffer from precarious incomes. The scheme will research the impact on artists and creative arts workers creative practice of providing the security of a basic income.

The pilot was also the number one recommendation of the Arts and Culture Recovery Taskforce which I established in 2020 to examine ways in which to help the arts recover post pandemic. I was very pleased to have been able to deliver on this recommendation. Payment to recipients began at the end of October.

2,000 recipients are being paid €325 a week for three years. 1,996 recipients have received their payments to date. A small number of participants, who replaced those who decided not to accept their place on the scheme, will receive their first payment in the coming weeks.

The research will examine, over a three-year period, the impact of a basic income style payment on artists and creative arts workers. I have established the scheme very firmly as a research project so that an evidence base can be developed around the impact of the policy. I am very grateful to all the applicants who agreed to participate in the control group; being able to compare and track their careers against those who will receive the BIA will be essential in demonstrating the impact of the payment on artists and their creative practices.

Participants will be surveyed at least twice a year. Focus groups, interviews and seminars will also happen to collect more qualitative data on how the scheme is impacting participant’s lives. Baselining research information has been received from recipients who have accepted their place on the scheme.

The Government wants to give recognition to the value of the arts and the role of creative practice in Irish society. I believe that the Basic Income for the Arts pilot scheme is a once in a generation, transformational measure in the funding of the arts in Ireland.