Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 20 January 2026
171. Deputy Malcolm Byrne asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport to provide an update, including a timetable, on the planned extension of the basic income for artists scheme; to indicate the position of the current participants in the scheme, and if they can apply to be part of the next scheme; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3753/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra190. Deputy Cathy Bennett asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport the allocation to the basic income for the arts scheme in 2025 and 2026. [4079/26]
Amharc ar fhreagra195. Deputy Cathy Bennett asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport when he intends to re-open the basic income for the arts scheme to new applicants. [4080/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraI was delighted to have secured an allocation for a successor scheme to the Basic Income for the Arts pilot as part of Budget 2026. While the detail of the future scheme will need to be agreed by Government, this is a major milestone for the arts in Ireland and I am particularly pleased that the research my Department conducted, provided Government with a clear evidence base upon which to make that decision.
More than 17,000 submissions were received to the public consultation I held in August – this is a record for my Department, and it shows how much interest there is in this scheme. I also held a Stakeholder Forum to gather input from the sector on plans for a successor scheme. There were over 200 online attendees for this from across the arts sector including resource organisations, Local Authorities and artists (both recipients and those not on the Pilot scheme).
Eligibility criteria and parameters for a successor scheme have not been finalised. The cost of the Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) pilot scheme was €35m for a full calendar year for 2,000 artists to participate, with each recipient receiving €325 a week. There were over 8,200 eligible applicants to the pilot scheme in 2022. To have funded all those eligible would have cost approximately €139m per year.
Agreement has been secured by Government for a successor scheme to the Basic Income for the Arts pilot with an allocation of €18.27m in my Department’s 2026 Estimate. I look forward to the design and delivery of the successor scheme and consultations and planning in relation to this are currently underway. I anticipate that this will conclude shortly[].
I can confirm that the BIA pilot scheme will end in February, which is when the final pilot payment will be made to the current cohort of recipients. While eligibility for the successor to the pilot is not yet finalised, a new cohort of recipients will be selected based on eligible applications for the successor scheme, so therefore it will not be the same 2,000 recipients.
Applications to that successor scheme will be based on the eligibility criteria and parameters of that scheme and those details will be published once they have been agreed by Government.
The Pilot scheme provided a weekly income of €325 to approximately 2,000 randomly selected artists and creative arts workers. The primary objective of the scheme is to help artists deal with precarious incomes and to prevent talent from leaving the sector for economic reasons.
The pilot is underpinned by a robust research project consisting of a randomised controlled trial (RCT) with the Treatment Group of 2,000 and a Control Group of 1,000.
It is clear from evidence collected to date that it has a positive impact for those in receipt of it. The data shows that the BIA is having a consistent, positive impact across almost all indicators affecting practice development, sectoral retention, well-being, and deprivation.
According to the data my Department has collected 51% of artists who do not receive the BIA live in enforced deprivation, compared to 16% of the general population. The BIA is therefore a means of addressing consistent poverty in the sector. The data also shows that at the start of the BIA the median income earned by those on the scheme was €19,200 per annum which is 54% lower than the national annual median of €41,823. At the same time, recipients’ arts-related income increased by over €500 per month on average, while their income from non-arts work decreased by around €280.
Recently, I published a Cost Benefit Analysis (CBA) showing that the real net fiscal cost of the BIA pilot was just under €72 million over the three years (compared with a gross cost of €105 million over 3 years). This is because the BIA generated returns in the form of tax revenues of €36 million and savings in social protection payments of €6.5 million. For every €1 of public money invested in the pilot, society received €1.39 in return.
The CBA shows that audience engagement with the arts generated an estimated €16.9m in social value over the three pilot years and improvements in psychological wellbeing contributed almost €80m to total benefits. Dependence on social protection declined, with recipients receiving €100 less per month on average, and they are 38 percentage points less likely to receive Jobseeker’s payments.
The CBA shows that the scheme produced over €100m in social and economic benefits. As I mentioned, for every €1 of public money invested in the pilot, society received €1.39 in return.
The findings of the latest BIA Report on 2 years of the payment shows that BIA recipients compared to those not in receipt of the BIA:
• are 6 percentage points more likely to have worked in the arts
• spend on average 11 weekly hours more on their creative practice
• are 14 percentage points more likely to have completed new works in the previous six months
• invest more financially in their practice
The BIA research has developed a strong, irrefutable evidence base that the intervention works and has consistent positive impacts for those in receipt of the payment as well as broader society.
Artists in receipt of the support are typically able to devote more time to their art, produce more pieces of work, experience a boost to their wellbeing through greater life satisfaction and reduced anxiety, and are protected from the precariousness of incomes in the sector to a greater degree than those who are not receiving the support.
The research from the Pilot has consistently demonstrated both the positive impact the BIA has had for those in receipt of it and how difficult it is to work as an artist in Ireland given the income precarity prevalent in the sector. The BIA successor scheme will help to sustain the careers of those artists who will receive it and retain their talent in the arts sector.
Based on the amount allocated to the BIA subhead in the Budget (€18.270m), the successor scheme will support the practices of at least 2,000 artists in 2026 at €325 per week, with payment beginning in Q4 2026.
Stakeholder consultation and engagement with other relevant Government Departments on the design of the new scheme will continue, to determine details such as the duration, eligibility and selection method, the details of which have not yet been decided.
Once the parameters of the scheme have been agreed by Government I intend to publish them. I hope to take a proposal to Government as soon as possible and would aim to open for applications at the earliest opportunity thereafter. I am aware that the end of the BIA pilot scheme may be a difficult time for pilot recipients; the BIA team intends to contact all recipients in the coming weeks with any details they can provide on resources which might be useful as the pilot ends.
While the detail of the future scheme will need to be agreed by Government, this is a major milestone for the arts in Ireland and, as I've mentioned, I was delighted to have secured an allocation for a successor scheme as part of Budget 2026.
