Via The Journal Of Music: With just over three months until the Basic Income for the Arts pilot scheme comes to an end, a government decision on its future has yet to be made.
The three-year Basic Income for the Arts pilot, established by the previous Minister for Arts Catherine Martin, was launched in September 2022 and is set to conclude in August this year. Nine thousand people applied for the scheme and two thousand artists and arts workers are currently receiving a weekly payment of €325.
The uncertainty over its future was highlighted in two recent exchanges in the Dáil.
On 8 May, Sinn Féin TD Aengus Ó Snodaigh asked Minister for Arts Patrick O'Donovan when a decision would be made as regards the scheme. In response, the Minister stated he is still waiting on a number of reports. He said:
"The Department is currently working on a report examining the first 24 months of the scheme and this report will be available before the end of the pilot. A further qualitative research paper, written by an independent researcher, will be published in the coming weeks. This paper collects the experiences of 50 recipients who have been interviewed by a sociologist. A cost-benefit analysis is also being undertaken at present."
Minister O’Donovan also said he is planning to meet representatives from the National Campaign for the Arts in order 'to hear its views on the scheme in detail’. That meeting will take place this week. The Minister added that a decision needs to be made on the scheme as to ‘whether it is the same group, a new group, a wider group, or a smaller group. All of this has to be assessed.’
He continued:
"There are a number of steps that we have to take … there are a number of hurdles that I have to jump. I will hopefully be in a position shortly to make an announcement with regard to the scheme’s future. I know the month of August is not that far away and people want to see certainty. It is my commitment to try to make sure we get the best possible outcome for the scheme going forward. It was a pilot but, as … Deputy [Ó Snodaigh] will appreciate given he is the Chairman of an Oireachtas committee, we have the upcoming budget negotiations with regard to the 26 expenditure ceilings. This is a priority for me and for the Department, and I want to use the opportunity in the Dáil today to make that clear."
He also stated:
"My basic premise is to get the scheme, a scheme, or a version of the scheme continued. It would be very regressive if we did not have it. It will have to form part of budgetary discussions in the Department."
In response to further questions from Fianna Fáil TD Malcolm Byrne, Minister O’Donovan said:
"Both Deputies [Ó Snodaigh and Byrne] would agree that the basic thing the Dáil would expect would be to evaluate the existing scheme before I give any commitment one way or the other on a new scheme, a modified scheme or a continuation of a scheme. This work is under way and as soon as I have formulated all of this and gone through all of it, it is my intention to make an announcement fairly soon on the future of the scheme. I hope to be in a position to do this in a matter of weeks."
Questions from Sherlock
A week later on 15 May, Labour Party TD Marie Sherlock again asked the government for a decision regarding the Basic Income, emphasising that artists on the scheme are unsure ‘if they will be able to pay their rent after August’. She said that ‘failure to renew the scheme would be devastating for many in the sector.’
In response, Minister of State Timmy Dooley of Fianna Fáil said:
"In any wider scheme, we will have to look at the wider impact. If there is a scheme to go beyond the pilot project, it will have to include everyone. Of course, there are budgetary issues that will arise and these will inform the Government’s decision. I expect that this would be part of the next budgetary process and the round of Estimates in preparation for budget 2026."
The Minister also stated, however, that ‘While the research pilot is due to end in August, the basic income for the arts is fully funded to the end of the year’, which suggests that recipients on the scheme may be funded until the end of 2025, although this remains unclear.
The government’s ambiguity stands in clear contrast to statements made during the election in November. In both parties’ election manifestos, they were unequivocal about the Basic Income pilot. Fianna Fáil said it would ‘retain the Basic Income for the Artists’ and Fine Gael said it would ‘continue the Basic Income for the Arts’. When it came to the Programme for Government, however, the wording had been watered down to a commitment to ‘assess the Basic Income for Artists [BIA] pilot to maximise its impact’.
Research results
The pilot scheme is being accompanied by a research project on both the two thousand recipients and a control group of one thousand who are not receiving the payment.
Two Department reports in 2023 and 2024 noted a 10% decrease in depression and anxiety, improved life satisfaction, more time spent on artistic work, and that recipients are spending 40% of the payment on their arts work.
Commenting on the research, Minister Dooley said:
"The scheme is underpinned by a gold standard research methodology known as a randomised control trial. … One is receiving the basic income payment, the treatment group, while the other, the control group, is not. Analysis of the results involves a comparison of averages between the two groups. As the groups have similar characteristics at baseline and are large, any difference arising during the trial can be assumed to have been caused by the policy."
Despite the two reports, over two and a half years of implementation, and the election commitments, the future of the scheme remains unclear.
To read the Dáil debates, see 8 May here and 15 May here.
Read more from The Journal Of Music here.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ.
