Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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Go raibh maith agat a Chathaoirligh Gníomhach agus fáiltím roimh an Aire Stáit. I thank him for taking this Commencement matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Martin. Since the Government introduced the basic income for artists scheme in 2022, 2,000 artists have been able to avail of the sum of €325 per week. All the reviews, including one the Minister published recently, show that it has allowed those artists to spend more time concentrating on their work and developing it. It has also meant the money has been put into materials, so it supports the artistic community.I would always make the argument, and I know it is the Government's view, that artists are essential for society culturally but also from a social and economic perspective. Ireland is rightly proud of our commitment to investment in the arts, in particular this programme, which is a direct investment in artists.

I pay enormous tribute to the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, for championing this issue. A direct support for artists was probably the most innovative measure since a tax exemption was introduced by Charlie Haughey in the 1960s. While there are many other supports for arts organisations and venues, specifically to allow artists to focus on the creation of the work has been critical. As I said, all of the reviews are extremely positive and I am quite certain in her response these will be highlighted by the Minister of State.

The three-year pilot scheme will finish next year. There is a question among those currently among the 2,000 artists who were part of the pilot programme about whether they will be able to continue in the programme or if a new scheme will potentially be opened up to 2,000 artists or more. What evidence will we have from the other group that also took part in the programme? I know the Minister is keen on addressing that. I will not pre-empt my party's manifesto, but in Fianna Fáil there is a commitment to continue the basic income scheme for artists and examine ways in which new artists can participate. I encourage the Minister to raise the issue in Fine Gael.

Given that the end of the three-year pilot will occur next year, we should not wait until the last minute. We need to learn lessons from the scheme, which has been in place since 2022, and consider the necessary improvements we may need to introduce. For the artistic community, which is hugely supportive of this scheme, we should provide them with a bit of certainty around the continuation of the scheme.

I hope that if and when the Government is re-elected, this will form part of the next programme for Government. It will be a critical issue in the general election in terms of support for artists and those in the wider cultural community. I hope that the Minister of State can give us some indication of the views of the Department around where the scheme will develop from 2025.

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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I thank Senator Byrne for raising this today. I am taking this matter on behalf of the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, who cannot be with us today.

The basic income for the arts is a once-in-a-generation policy intervention which has the potential to transform the lives of artists. The scheme is part of a suite of measures that the Minister, Deputy Martin, has introduced to support professional arts practice in Ireland. I am particularly proud of the fact that former Taoiseach, Deputy Leo Varadkar, said when he became party leader and Taoiseach that he would set about significantly increasing investment in the arts as a key point. We are seeing that come through now, through the resources the Minister, Deputy Martin, has and continues to have.

The basic income for the arts is accompanied by a three-year research programme which started in October 2022 and will continue until the end of the pilot in 2025. The research programme is a unique opportunity to gather data on the sector that we did not have before. In researching impacts on recipients and the ecology of the arts, this pilot scheme has the potential to change the landscape of the arts in Ireland and how we fund it. It will help us to make further progress towards a more evidence-based approach to funding for the arts and to tell a story about the sector based, to a greater extent, on data.

In May, the Minister hosted a conference to discuss the status of the artist in Ireland. It marked the launch of data from the first full year of the basic income for the arts pilot scheme. It was a timely opportunity to bring artists and the broader arts sector together to discuss the challenges facing Irish artists today. The Minister participated in a panel on artists’ supports, including the basic income for the arts, which was a valuable opportunity for her to discuss the pilot with the sector and hear their voices on what can be done to ensure that the policy context for artists is as supportive as it can be.

The newly-published research shows that the basic income for the arts payment is having a consistent positive impact across almost all indicators; affecting practice development, sectoral retention, well-being and deprivation. It is intended that participants remain the same throughout the three-year pilot research scheme. The scheme is a randomised control trial that consists of two groups of randomly selected people.One, which is the treatment group, is receiving the basic income payment, 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 this policy. The data collected as part of the BIA scheme will help us to make further progress towards a more evidence-based approach to funding for the arts. Data published through the reports is of use to the Department, the Arts Council, local authorities and arts organisations. The existing reports are available on gov.ieand more reports will be published in the coming months as we continue to collect and analyse the data. The Minister, Deputy Martin, cannot presuppose the outcome of future budget negotiations or Government decisions in terms of a continuation of the BIA after the pilot is finished. However, the Minister believes the data so far shows that the intervention is having a positive impact on participants, as the Senator has outlined. The reason the Minister put in place a robust research programme was to provide a clear data-driven evidence-base upon which future Government policy decisions on funding the arts can be taken. While the Minister is very supportive of the BIA, it is too early in the research to fully understand the impact of the scheme, and the pilot will need to be completed to assess the effectiveness of the BIA on those in receipt of it. For example, positive impacts seen early in the research may change or reduce over time, so it is too early to make that decision on the next steps right now.

Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister of State. I was at part of that conference on the status of the artist and the Minister does articulate her views and her commitment to this very well. I totally appreciate and think it is right that our decisions on the extension of the scheme are going to be evidence-based. My worry is that we will move into 2025 pretty quickly. Not all Departments move particularly quickly in renewing and developing schemes and acting on the reports and the evidence. However, it is important to give a clear indication that, acting on the evidence, there will be a continuation of the scheme from 2025 onwards. I totally understand, based on the evidence, that it may need to be tweaked and so on, but for the artistic committee it should show there is a commitment to continuing with it. The fear will be that we complete this scheme in 2025, there will be a hiatus and we will then be waiting to see what will happen. That is not what I would like to see happening.

Martin Heydon (Kildare South, Fine Gael)
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The Senator raises very valid points which I will bring back to the Minister, Deputy Martin. While the Minister is optimistic that the basic income payment is having a positive impact on those receiving it, she is very cognisant of the data which is emerging about the difficult conditions in which artists find themselves more generally. Therefore, she held the status of the artist conference in May, which the Senator attended, that focused on income and working conditions in the arts in Ireland. A year on, the BIA payment is having a consistently positive impact across almost all indicators, affecting practice development, sectoral retention, well-being and deprivation. Artists in receipt of the support are typically able to devote more time to their art, have a boost to their well-being 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 it. That is all really positive. We have to be mindful as well that we cannot make that commitment but all of the key indications are here that it is very positive. Along with the Minister, I thank the Senator and his colleagues in the Seanad for raising this point and discussing it here today. We will keep a very close eye on it.