Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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Over 9,000 people applied for the basic income pilot scheme (BIA) last year, of which, just over 8,200 were deemed eligible. As this is a pilot scheme the funding available is limited to a maximum of 2,000 recipients. The scheme was significantly oversubscribed and I appreciate that those who were unsuccessful are disappointed.

I note that the applicant referred to by the Deputy was deemed eligible but did not get selected for the pilot. However, eligibility was not a guarantee of a place on the BIA and recipients were chosen through an anonymised random selection process. This process was overseen by EY acting as an independent verifier. All eligible applicants were included in the randomised selection to select the 2,000 BIA recipients and the control group of 1,000 participants. It is not proposed to add any further eligible applicants to the BIA Pilot scheme.

This is a three-year research programme with the intention of providing an evidence base to assess whether or not this type of support works for the arts. The Department will be assessing a wide range of impact data from participants including the effect the payment has on their creativity, the amount of time they devote to the arts, their well-being, and their ability to earn additional income from the arts.