Call for basic income scheme for artists to be made permanent
Dublin city councillors have called on the government to make the basic income scheme for artists a permanent measure, as the pilot initiative nears its conclusion.
The measure, which is currently set to expire in February 2026, pays eligible artists and creative workers €325 a week regardless of their output.
Around 2,000 people nationally signed up for the scheme, which aims to address the financial instability faced by many working in the arts.
Speaking yesterday in the Dublin City Council (DCC) chamber, Maria Fleming of the National Campaign for the Arts, said politicians were now in the “final stages” of deciding whether the scheme is retained or scrapped.
“I’m really pleading with councillors to do everything you can to try and get basic income for artists approved in this budget,” she said.
“We’re in danger of losing artists out of Dublin. Some of them will leave Dublin. Some of them will leave the country.
“Some of them will leave the sector of the arts. For a country that dines out on the talent of our artists, it’s really hit a crucial time now where we need to support them.
“Research that was done on the basic income for artists pilot, which finishes in February, has shown that 53pc of artists are living in deprivation, compared with 17pc of the general population.”
Ms Fleming urged councillors in the government parties to ensure that basic income for artists gets funding in the budget.
“If it’s not approved in this budget, the pilot will be put up on the shelf and we won’t see it again, and we are going to lose artists from our city,” she said.
Ms Fleming and Social Democrats councillor Cat O’Driscoll brought a motion before the Community, Gaeilge, Sport, Arts and Culture Strategic Policy Committee, urging the government to put the scheme on statutory footing and make it permanent.
Ms O’Driscoll said that in her years on the council, she saw that staff cared for the artists in the city.
“That’s something that I wish was as evident within government buildings,” she said.
Green Party councillor Donna Cooney said she supported the basic income scheme, adding that it was introduced by an arts minister from her own party.
“Our intention always was that if it was a successful pilot, it should be extended and put on a statutory basis, and it has been a successful pilot,” she said, before councillors passed the motion.
The debate comes as new research on the pilot scheme shows it had a positive economic effect since it launched.
A cost-benefit analysis, published by the Department of Culture today, showed that for every €1 spent, society received €1.39 in benefits through improvements to psychological wellbeing, social value and savings in social welfare payments.
Minister for Culture Patrick O’Donovan said the report was a “very encouraging”.
“The economic return on this investment in Ireland’s artists and creative arts workers is immediately having a positive impact for the sector and the economy overall,” he said.