Detailed proposals for the successor to the Basic Income for the Arts scheme are to be brought to Cabinet next week.
Minister for the Arts Patrick O’Donovan will outline how the department intends to build on what is generally regarded as a successful pilot programme.
Under it, some 2,000 artists across a wide range of disciplines received €325 a week with the goal of easing financial concerns and allowing them to focus on their creative work.
It is understood the monthly sum payable will be unchanged, as will the number of recipients, although there is expected to be a commitment to expand the scheme if additional funding can be secured.
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The new scheme will last for three years, with applications opening in May and the first payments due to be made in September.
Some changes are expected to be announced, with additional eligibility requirements to help with targeting of the money and annual audits to ensure compliance.
At the end of the three years, there is expected to be a three-month tapering-off period for those artists coming off the scheme.
Artists who participated in the pilot project, which was extended by six months last year, are due to receive their final payments this month and concerns were expressed by a significant number in recent weeks regarding the lack of clarity about the successor scheme. One recipient said on Friday there was “a lot of anxiety” expressed in discussion groups.
It is expected that those recipients will be eligible to apply for funding again but they will not be guaranteed inclusion.
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In 2022, more than 8,000 artists applied to participate, with those who eventually took part selected randomly.
Subsequent research published by the department suggested €1.39 was generated for every euro invested. Artists said they were able to do more work in their chosen field while having to work less outside the arts in order to support themselves and their families.
The department also said the net cost of the pilot had reduced from €105 million to €72 million due to taxes generated and a reduction in social protection payments claimed.
In 2025, it was projected that, of €35.3 million allocated to payments, some €12 million came back to the Government in tax while €2.4 million was reported to have been saved in social protection payments.
Social Democrats TD Sinéad Gibney said the likely gap between the end of the current scheme and its successor “means that the gains, on an individual level, are lost for those in the pilot and permanently for those who don’t get the second tranche, which you would expect to be the majority”, something she said would mean a loss of stability.
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Dr Jenny Dagg, who lectures on social inclusion at Maynooth University, said the news last year that the scheme was to be made permanent was welcome but that “it is one part of the jigsaw”.
“There are a lot of benefits to this but it needs to be part of a far bigger discussion about cultural policy and infrastructure,” she said.
