Minister O'Donovan on the future of the Basic Income for the Arts: "If the world ever needed people to be creative, it is now"

On Tuesday, February 10, Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport Patrick O'Donovan announced the establishment of a permanent Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) in Ireland.

The scheme follows the BIA pilot programme, which began in 2022 and ran for three years. Like the pilot, the permanent programme will give 2000 artists €325 per week to alleviate the financial strain of their artmaking. The participants were studied next to a control group of artists not receiving a subsidy.

"The analysis is clear," said Minister O'Donovan. "The pilot, which was short-lived, showed over €100 million in terms of social and economic benefits. That is an enormous amount of payback."

Approval for the plan was measured by the department's largest ever public consultation. Of its 17,000 respondents, 98% of them expressed approval for the permanence of the plan.

Peter Power, a member of the National Campaign for the Arts' Steering Committee, called the permanence of the program "a moment worth recognising".

"Artists on the scheme spent more time creating, producing more work, and spent less time trapped in unrelated jobs just to survive," said Power. "Many became better able to sustain themselves through their work alone. Alongside this came improvements in wellbeing, mental health, and financial security, not because people stopped working, but because they could finally work properly."

"This scheme shows that basic income isn't about paying people to do nothing. It's about removing the instability so people can contribute culturally, socially, and economically. It's about recognising that creative work is work. A society benefits when people are supported to do what they do best."

Minister O'Donovan took care to articulate the qualitative benefits felt by artists in the programme.

"You can't put a quantum in terms of shilling and pence on psychological impact, on wellbeing, on people's mental health, and how they feel about themselves, and how they feel to have a position where their role is so valued by the state that they get recognized by the state financially. You can't put a value on that."

"It's a very clear statement of the strength of our democracy," Minister O'Donovan said. "A government and a political system that is cajoled by, challenged by, encouraged by, criticised by a creative sector, that's a good democracy in my book."

Cork-based singer-songwriter John Blek gave two performances to accompany the event.

When asked about growing the programme, the Minister expressed the department's wish to expand beyond 2000 artists and increase the weekly rate, should more funding become available.

"It might not be perfect in everybody's book," he said, "but this is a gigantic step forward that other countries are not doing."

The Minister thanked Culture Ireland and the Arts Council for their work in the months leading up to this decision. He shared his hopes for strengthening the department's cultural diplomacy work and the introduction of an Arts Capital Programme.

Similar to the existing Sports Capital Programme, the Arts Capital Programme would give "small, not-for-profit venues... a boost in terms of lighting, sound, heating, basic things like chairs," said Minister O'Donovan. "We're going to start small and ramp up and hopefully bring that to government in the next couple of weeks."

The Minister spoke with a sense of urgency regarding the erosion of global norms.

"Our democracy will be measured in the future by our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren, by the questions that they will ask us. 'What did you do in 2026 when the norms of the world were crumbling around you? What did you do in terms of standing up for people who had no voice, both at home and abroad?' And if the answer is, we shrug our shoulders and say, 'not a lot,' then I think we'll carry that guilt for a long time."

"When you see the level of despondency and despair that some people are facing on a day-to-day basis, you're carried back almost to a time of Europe in the 1930s," he continued. "The first group of people in Europe in the 1930s who people who didn't really like democracy came after were the creatives. Once they got rid of them, they silenced the majority."

"If the world ever needed people to be creative, to be different, to stand out from the fold, it is now."

Applications for the permanent BIA programme will open in May.