Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport, and Media Patrick O'Donovan rolled out a permanent basic income scheme for the arts on Tuesday, pledging to pay 2,000 creative workers €325 per week following a trial that participants said eased financial strain and allowed them to spend more time on projects. Ireland began the three-year trial in 2022 to help artists recover from covid shutdowns. While similar pilots have been tried in San Francisco and New York, Mr O'Donovan said the scheme was the first permanent one of its kind in the world. Mr O'Donovan said he would like to increase the number of recipients over time. It also recouped more than the trial's net cost of €72m through increases in arts-related expenditure, productivity gains, and reduced reliance on other social welfare payments, according to a government-commissioned cost-benefit analysis.

Source: Irish Examiner February 10, 2026 17:11 UTC