Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party)
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The Basic Income for the Arts pilot was a key policy objective for me. Since becoming Minister, I have been determined to focus on supporting professional arts practice and demonstrating to artists that they are valued, that their work is appreciated and that the contribution they make to enhancing all of our lives is understood.

Accordingly, in line with that commitment to supporting artists, in the last four years since Budget 2020:

• funding for the Culture programme in my Department has grown by over 90%
• funding for the Arts Council has grown by 68%
• funding for Screen Ireland has grown by 88%
• funding for Culture Ireland has grown 65%
• funding of €105 million is in place for the Basic Income for the Arts Research Programme
• funding for National Cultural Institutions has increased by over 50%
• we are supporting the provision of new artist workspaces in Dublin City and elsewhere

As the pilot is still ongoing, it is too early for Government to make a decision on next steps. However, I ensured that the pilot is underpinned by a robust research programme which will provide a clear evidence base for decisions in relation to the pilot. I have stated previously that while there is no Government decision yet, I would be in favour of the pilot being expanded.

The data so far clearly shows the benefit for participants, not just to their arts practice but also to their mental health and wellbeing. I have had so much direct feedback from recipients on how transformational the basic income has been and I would be keen to continue it. The reason I was determined to have a robust gold standard research programme is because it is critical that we gather irrefutable data in order to inform decisions on future policy. I am very proud to have been the Minister to implement this ground-breaking policy.

The cost to expand this measure would depend on the number of recipients who would be included in the intervention. There are no current data providing exact measures for the number of people working in the arts. However, there were 8,209 eligible applications received for the Basic Income for the Arts pilot scheme. To pay each eligible applicant a weekly amount of €325 would cost approximately €139 million per year. To extend this beyond those who met the eligibility criteria would increase the cost further.