Weekly income of €325 for 2,000 artists will ‘set Ireland apart’ – minister
By Gráinne Ní Aodha, Press Association
A scheme offering artists a set weekly income for a three-year period will “set Ireland apart” from other countries in how it values creativity, a minister has said.
In 2022, a pilot was launched in Ireland trialling a basic income of €325 for 2,000 artists.
Artists applied for the scheme and were assessed for their eligibility before 2,000 were chosen by a randomiser software.
In Budget 2026, Minister for Arts and Culture Patrick O’Donovan secured 18.27 million euros in funding to make the scheme permanent.
The reason that it's been started at 2,000 is because that's the budget envelope that we got from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for a full calendar year
The Basic Income for the Arts scheme (BIA), which is hoped to be available from September, will operate in three-year cycles to select 2,000 artists for the 325-euro payment.
Artists can apply for one cycle every six years, so if an artist is selected for the 2026–2029 cycle, they will not be eligible for the payment in the next cycle but can apply after that.
Launching the permanent scheme at Bewley’s Cafe in Dublin city, O’Donovan said the scheme was “a start” that he hoped they could build on.
He said: “I’m delighted to be the minister, for the first time in the history of the State, to be able to say that we now have, on a permanent basis, a basic income structure that will really revolutionise and, in many ways, set Ireland apart from other countries with regard to how we value culture and creativity.”
Asked by reporters why the number of artists being selected and the amount being paid had not been increased, O’Donovan said it was due to the amount of funding made available and that he would like to see both increased.
“The reason that it’s been started at 2,000 is because that’s the budget envelope that we got from the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform for a full calendar year,” he said.
“But I hope to be able to grow that over the next couple of years, and that will obviously involve negotiations between myself and the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform and our department officials.
“But it is an aspiration of mine over the lifetime of the Government, over the next four to five years, to try and increase that number, because I can see very clearly from the metrics just how important it is.”
Asked about whether issues with the scheme where artists with disabilities had their welfare supports cut if they accepted the basic income, O’Donovan said the Department of Social Protection assesses it as income from self-employment, so “the situation there remains”.
