I propose to take Questions Nos. 6, 7, 23, 32 and 56 together. I was delighted to have secured an allocation for a successor scheme to the basic income for the arts pilot as part of budget 2026. While the detail of the future scheme will need to be agreed by the Government, this is a major milestone for the arts in Ireland. I am particularly pleased that the research my Department conducted provided the Government with a clear evidence base upon which to make the decision. More than 17,000 submissions were received to the public consultation I held in August. This is a record for our Department and shows how much interest there is in this scheme. I also held a stakeholder forum to gather input from the sector on plans for a successor scheme. There were over 200 attendees from across the arts sector including resource organisations, local authorities and artists, both recipients and those not on the pilot. Eligibility criteria and parameters for a successor scheme have not yet been finalised. The cost of the basic income for the arts pilot scheme was €35 million for a full calendar year for 2,000 artists to participate, with each recipient receiving €325 a week. There were over 8,200 eligible applicants to the pilot in 2022. To have funded all those eligible would have cost approximately €139 million per year. Agreement has been secured by the Government for a successor to the basic income for the arts pilot scheme with an allocation of €18.27 million in my Department’s 2026 Estimate. I look forward to the design and delivery of the successor scheme. Consultations and planning in relation to this are currently under way. I can confirm that the basic income for the arts pilot scheme will end in February 2026, which is when the final pilot payment will be made to the current cohort of recipients. We intend to announce a successor scheme and open for applications in the new year. While eligibility has not yet been finalised, a new cohort of recipients will be selected on the basis of eligible applications for a successor scheme. Therefore, it will not be the same 2,000 recipients. Applications to that successor scheme will be based on the eligibility criteria and parameters of that scheme. Those details will be published once they have been agreed by the Government. The pilot scheme provides a weekly income of €325 to approximately 2,000 randomly selected artists and creative arts workers. The primary objective of the scheme is to help artists to deal with precarious incomes and to prevent talent from leaving the sector for economic reasons. The pilot is underpinned by a robust research project consisting of a randomised controlled trial with a treatment group of 2,000 and a control group of 1,000. It is clear from evidence collected to date that it has a positive impact for those in receipt of it. The data shows that the basic income for the arts is having a consistent, positive impact across all indicators affecting practice development, sectoral retention, well-being and deprivation. According to the data the Department has collected, 51% of artists who do not receive the basic income for the arts are living in enforced deprivation, compared with 16% of the general population. The scheme is therefore a means of addressing consistent poverty in the sector. The data also shows that at the start of the basic income for the arts scheme, the median income earned by those on the scheme was €19,200 per annum, which is 54% lower than the national annual median of €41,823. At the same time, recipients’ arts-related income increased by over €500 per month on average, while their income from non-arts work decreased by around €280. Recently, I published a cost-benefit analysis showing that the real net fiscal cost of the basic income for the arts pilot was just under €72 million over the three years compared with a gross cost of €105 million for the three years. This is because the basic income for the arts generated returns in the form of tax revenues of €36 million and savings in social protection payments of €6.5 million. For every €1 of public money invested in the pilot, society received €1.39 in return. The cost-benefit analysis shows that audience engagement with the arts generated an estimated €16.9 million in social value over the three-year pilot and improvements in psychological well-being contributed almost €80 million to the total benefit. Dependence on social protection declined with recipients receiving €100 less per month on average and they are 38 percentage points less likely to receive jobseeker’s payments. The cost-benefit analysis also shows that the scheme produced over €100 million in social and economic benefits. As I mentioned, for every €1 of public money invested, society received €1.39. The findings of the latest basic income for the arts report on two years of the payment shows that basic income for the arts recipients, compared with those not in receipt of the basic income for the arts, are six percentage points more likely to have worked, spend on average 11 weekly hours more on their creative practice, are 14 percentage points more likely to have completed new works in the previous six months and invest more financially in their practices. The basic income for the arts research has developed a strong, irrefutable evidence base that the intervention has worked and has consistent positive impacts for those in receipt of it. Artists in receipt of the support are typically able to devote more time to their art, produce more pieces of work, experience a boost to their well-being through greater life satisfaction and reduced anxiety and are protected from the precarious nature of this sector to a greater degree than those who are not receiving the support. The research from the pilot has consistently demonstrated both the positive impact the basic income for the arts has for those in receipt of it and how difficult it is to work as an artist in Ireland given the income precarity prevalent in the sector. The basic income for the arts successor scheme will help to sustain the careers of those artists who will receive it and retain their talent in the arts sector. Based on the amount allocated to the basic income for the arts subhead in the budget of €18.27 million, the successor scheme will support the practices of at least 2,000 artists in 2026 at €325 per week with payment beginning in quarter 4. Stakeholder consultation and engagement with other relevant Government Departments on the design of the new scheme will continue to determine details such as the duration, eligibility and selection method, the details of which have not yet been agreed or decided. Once the parameters of the scheme have been agreed by the Government, I intend to publish them. I hope to take a proposal to the Government as soon as possible and will aim to open for applications at the earliest opportunity thereafter. While the detail of the future scheme will need to be agreed by the Government, this is a major milestone for artists and the arts in Ireland. I was delighted to have secured an allocation for a successor scheme as part of the budget.
Sentiment score: 0.26
I welcome that people are so supportive of the scheme. There is a complication with regard to how the scheme runs forward because the pilot was due to end on 31 December, but out of savings in our Department's resources we are able to extend it to February to give an extra two months. At the same time, I mentioned the level of consultation we are doing in the Department. It is probably the largest consultative process we have ever done in the Department. It shows the range of opinions. Not everybody agrees on the mechanisms that should be imported for a new scheme. There is a large cohort for whom this scheme was not an option. I have to make sure that whatever we do is fair and reflective of similar schemes the Government also runs with randomised selection and things like that. The people outside the scheme at the moment are every bit as anxious to know if they will get a chance to come in. If it is the same cohort who roll over again, that is not fair to the people outside of it. I think both Deputies would agree we have to make sure whatever we do is fair. There is also a level of engagement we have to do with the Department of Social Protection with regard to the issues raised. Ultimately, changes in eligibility for Department of Social Protection schemes are a matter for the Minister for Social Protection. I hope that once this level of engagement and consultation with the sector, which is ongoing and led by my Department, has finished, I will be in a position to bring forward shortly - I will not give a date - a proposal to the Government which will get its agreement. I remind the House that since my appointment as Minister for the arts, I have made sure this is to be put on a permanent footing. When I came into the Department, there was no prospect of this being retained. That should be seen as a big positive given the budgetary discussions we had.
Sentiment score: 0.25
That is not the case.
Sentiment score: 0.00
I have not worked out that detail yet. As soon as I do, I will take it to the Government. With regard to journalists, we have journalistic schemes that are operated from my Department, including the court reporting scheme and the supporting democracy schemes. The Deputy might not be aware of them but we support them. I have not dismissed other Departments using basic income, but I am not the Minister for agriculture, as I have said three or four times at this stage. If the Minister for agriculture wants to bring in a basic income for farmers scheme, that is his prerogative. I am the Minister for arts. I never said that people on the existing scheme would not be able to apply for the new scheme. That is an unfortunate conflation Deputy Bennett is trying to do here. I do not know whether that is to try to instil fear in the artists. Let me be clear: I have not made a decision with regard to eligibility, or who will or will not be able to apply. As soon as I do, I will go to the Government with it and it will be brought back to the House. To be honest about it, a lot of people are worried. To use that fear today is not something the Deputy should do. Most people in the arts community are very welcoming of the fact that we have permanency of this scheme going forward. Deputy Bennett mentioned mortgages and things like that. She suggested that I am somehow going to scrap the existing 2,000. I never said that. She should reflect on that.
Sentiment score: 0.06
With regard to the Bill that was debated last week, Deputy Ó Snodaigh knows quite well my view with regard to comedy. That pertains to the Arts Council and Arts Council grants, which are a totally different thing. I have made my views clear with regard to the Arts Council and the funding of things like country music, Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, comedy and other genres of arts which are currently not funded by the Arts Council. I am awaiting a report, which I am sure will probably be due any day now, from Professor Niamh Brennan with regard to the serious governance issues at the Arts Council. It is prudent and responsible to receive that first before I consider any other legislation with regard to the Arts Council that would involve having to come back after Christmas with a second Bill. I am sure people like the Deputy would be the first to ask why I did not wait for the report to be finished.
Sentiment score: 0.46
The Government is committed to the rollout of high-speed broadband right across the country. The national broadband plan, NBP, is the Government's initiative to deliver high-speed broadband services to all premises in Ireland where the commercial telecom operators' reach will not extend. In addition to the work being progress by National Broadband Ireland right across the NBP intervention areas, progress is also being made by commercial operators in expanding their next generation networks throughout the State and ensuring the targets set out in the digital connectivity 2022 strategy are achieved. Skerries is predominantly located in the amber area on the broadband map, which is available on my Department's website. The amber area is to be served by the network deployed under the NBP State-led intervention. Balbriggan is largely in the blue area on the broadband map. The blue area represents those areas where commercial providers are either currently delivering or have plans to deliver high-speed broadband services. The Department defines high-speed broadband as a connection with minimum speeds of 30 Mbps download and 6 Mbps upload. National Broadband Ireland has advised that the majority of premises in Skerries are ready for service, and 2,421 premises in the Skerries deployment area are available to order or pre-order. The remaining premises are currently undergoing survey work and have an anticipated date for connection of October to December 2026. The latest information on when high-speed broadband will become available to premises in the integration area can be found on the website. This website is regularly updated and provides the expected timeline for delivery and status of any works that are initiated at any point in time. The activities of commercial operators delivering high-speed broadband within blue areas are not planned or funded by the State and the Department has no statutory authority to intervene or report in that regard. However, ComReg provides an online tool on its website to check the available broadband options at a particular address. NBI is bringing fibre broadband to 564,000 premises across the intervention area. The roll-out is divided into 227 deployment areas, each averaging 25 km, although some extend beyond town boundaries due to network design.
Sentiment score: 0.08
I thank the Deputy. She is right in relation to the blue area in general. We continue to receive very high volumes of queries with regard to blue areas for high-speed broadband and poor speeds and services and things like that. Notwithstanding the fact that there are issues - if the Deputy wants to give me the particular details with regard to specific parts of Skerries and Balbriggan, I will have the Department look at them - I think people in general will acknowledge that some years ago, when I came into the Dáil first, Taoiseach's Questions, Leaders' Questions, the Order of Business and questions to the Minister were all dominated by broadband. Now I am lucky to get a question once every two or three months with regard to broadband in rural areas and in urban areas as well, which shows that the money allocated by the Government and by Deputy Donohoe in his former role as Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform has been transformative. If it was not working to the extent that it is in constituencies like my own, we would be inundated with questions. There are issues - I am not saying there are not - but we will work through them. If the Deputy wants to give me the particular details, we will have a look at them.
Sentiment score: 0.15
There is a Dublin-specific issue we have to address. Fadó fadó when cable television came into people's houses - we did not have that luxury in the country, I do not know whether An Cathaoirleach Gníomhach did and Deputy Ó Snodaigh probably did - they had to break footpaths when they brought in cables and in many cases, left no ducting so there is a significant problem involving ducting in a lot of urban areas, particularly in Dublin, that we will have to address with local authorities. It will cost an awful lot of money. I know it is a particularly big issue in suburban Dublin and, in many cases, prevents the delivery of high-speed broadband. It is probably part of the next generation of problems we will have to fix in suburban areas, particularly in Dublin. We can see the transformation not only in rural Ireland but in urban Ireland over the past number of years with access to proper telecommunications and connectivity. This is only right. We will continue to work on outages and the problems that are there.
Sentiment score: -0.19
As outlined in the programme for Government, the Government believes that culture and the arts are essential to a well-rounded society providing opportunities for education, expression and community engagement. My Department is taking a number of steps to improve, increase and widen access to the arts. A network of cultural infrastructure exists throughout the country with the majority in the ownership of local authorities. Annual support, including programming and revenue supports, is provided to this arts and culture infrastructure by local authorities and the Arts Council. Within my Department, the cultural capital scheme was originally launched in October 2019 with a total fund of €4.7 million. Both An Táin and Droichead Arts Centre in County Louth were awarded funding under stream B and stream D of that scheme. Some €1.4 million is now available under stream E of the scheme, which was launched in June 2023. Grants of up to €50,000 are available to not-for-profit arts and cultural organisations. Projects that address accessibility, including accessibility audits as well as the other works mentioned by the Deputy, are also eligible for funding under stream E. As I announced after budget 2026, my Department has been allocated €6 million for the new arts capital programme in line with the commitment in the programme for Government. My Department is in the process of designing the specifications of the scheme, including the setting of eligibility criteria. This will see much-needed capital supports for arts and culture organisations. The Arts Council also provides financial support to a number of initiatives aimed at increasing public access, participation and engagement in the arts. A new All In scheme developed by people with disabilities will support organisations such as theatres, museums, galleries and festivals to improve access, remove barriers and welcome more people with access requirements. The Arts Council is a partner in developing this new scheme with Arts Council England, Arts Council of Northern Ireland, Arts Council of Wales and Creative Scotland. Finally, as a follow up to the report of the night-time economy task force, the Department commissioned a survey in 2024 to examine the issues for patrons and artists with disabilities when going out at night and engaging in cultural activities. A report of that survey has now been finalised and it contains a number of recommendations that aim to improve access for patrons when going out at night. My Department is currently reviewing those recommendations with key stakeholders with a view to providing an action plan with practical measures towards creating a more inclusively accessible night-time economy.
Sentiment score: 0.41
The Deputy is right. It is 2025. We should not have a situation where in some of our national cultural institutions, people with disabilities cannot go in the front door. That is the reality because of delays. Deputy Ó Snodaigh and I spoke about this a while ago regarding the rehabilitation of sensitive buildings and architecturally conserved areas. There are people with mobility problems who cannot go in the front door of our national cultural institutions. I find that intolerable. It really sticks in my craw that we cannot bring people in the front door regardless of their ability or mobility. The Deputy raised a very interesting point in which I have a personal interest, namely, disabled patrons. Some of our cultural institutions can be a hellish experience, particularly for people with photosensitivity or neurodiversity, so the resdesign and design of them has to be done in conjunction with people who are neurodiverse and have particular disabilities. I welcome the Deputy's proposals.
Sentiment score: 0.04
I will be bringing forward proposals to Government shortly regarding the new arts capital scheme. It will be along the same lines as the sports capital grant scheme. It is a small amount of money to start with. We are testing the waters in year one but I hope to grow it exponentially over the next couple of years. It will be local authority-dependent. They own most of the properties around the country. It will not be open to the national cultural institutions. To be honest, they have enough money, which they get directly from the Department. This will be designed for the smaller groups around the country that do not have access to capital works and capital schemes but I will encourage local authorities to come up with schemes and matched funding and to be ambitious. We will put our toe in the water in the first year but I hope to grow it and, with the support of colleagues in the House, to do for arts and culture what we have done successfully over the past number of years for sport.
Sentiment score: 0.32
As outlined in the programme for Government, the Government believes that culture and the arts are essential to a well-rounded society providing opportunities for education, expression and community engagement. My Department is taking a number of steps to improve, increase and widen access to the arts. A network of cultural infrastructure exists throughout the country with the majority in the ownership of local authorities. My Department provides capital support for arts and culture infrastructure while annual support, including programming and revenue supports, is provided by local authorities and the Arts Council. The centre in Portlaoise referred to by the Deputy has been awarded capital funding of over €340,000 under various schemes from my Department since 2006. Within the past five years, it availed of funding to the value of €9,996 under stream D of the cultural capital scheme, a scheme which was set up in direct response to Covid-19 to assist organisations with re-opening safely. As I mentioned, annual support, including programming and revenue supports, for arts and culture centres is provided by the Arts Council. I understand the organisation in question is in receipt of annual funding from the Arts Council and was awarded €125,000 in 2024 and €145,000 in 2025. My Department has a capital funding scheme open for applications called stream E of the cultural capital scheme. It focuses on enhancing the existing stock of arts and culture centres throughout the country and provides grants of up €50,000. I believe the organisation in question is aware of this scheme and had been in the process of submitting an application in September of this year but has put it on hold and expects to resubmit the full application in due course. The Department would welcome this application as soon as the applicant is in a position to submit it. Finally, as announced in budget 2026, my Department has been allocated €6 million for a new arts capital programme for arts and culture organisations across the country in line with the commitment in the programme for Government. My Department is in the process of designing the specifications of the scheme, including the setting of eligibility criteria.
Sentiment score: 0.38
As I said a while ago, I understand Dunamaise Arts Centre is due to bring forward an application. It was to bring this forward in September, I think, but it has been delayed for some reason. Once that application is brought forward, it can be assessed. The important thing in the wider scheme for these centres is we will have an arts capital scheme that is the first of its kind, as soon as we have eligibility and a process in place. That has to be approved by the Minister for public expenditure before it can be formally launched. Regional centres and smaller centres around the country do not get as much money as some of the larger ones, especially those based in Dublin, and the national cultural institutions, which are wholly dependent on the State. These centres will have access to smaller levels of funding that can do the things the Deputy was talking about such as sound desks, lighting, improvements to seating and ticket offices, IT enhancements and all that. We will not be able to do everything. I imagine we will be inundated in year one but if we are I hope that will form the blueprint for us to have a bigger budget from the Department of public expenditure in future years.
Sentiment score: 0.19
The last point the Deputy made is the most important. All these arts centres will only be as good as the local community that supports them. No amount of schemes, interventions and grants will ever supplement what the local community can do by attending and supporting artists, whether touring or local. That is the most important issue. Whether they are in parish halls, purpose-built centres like the Dunamaise Arts Centre, hotels or wherever, the most important thing people can do to have a vibrant arts community is to support the artists and go out on a Friday or Saturday night, or even the middle of the week and see what is on in the local area, be that in Portlaoise, Abbeyleix, Rathdowney or wherever. These events need support and do not survive without support and the Government cannot do it all on its own. On the Deputy's comments about this being the most positive response he has received since he came into the Dáil, I am flattered and thank him very much. I encourage the Dunamaise Arts Centre to put in its application. Obviously once that is in, that will be assessed according to the strict criteria within the Department.
Sentiment score: 0.50
I had thought we were nearly finished but I thank the Deputy. A range of supports are provided for screen productions in Ireland, including regional productions. These are kept under ongoing review to ensure we remain an attractive location for inward investment and continue to develop our domestic industry. In 2024, Screen Ireland invested more than €6.5 million in productions, festivals, initiatives and activities that contributed to the nationwide development of the screen sector. This included €4 million awarded through the agency's nationwide additional production fund. Screen Ireland also provided funding supports for talent and skill development initiatives across the country, such as the agency's National Talent Academy network, which has key bases in Limerick and Galway. In 2025, Screen Ireland ring-fenced funding of €5.5 million for nationwide development and Irish-language storytelling. Over 50% of live action feature film and TV drama in Screen Ireland's 2025 slate of productions is expected to be produced or filmed on location in regions outside of the traditional film-making hubs of Dublin and Wicklow. These regions include the counties of Donegal, Limerick, Galway, Monaghan and Sligo. Ireland is home to several world-class film studios boasting state-of-the-art production and post-production facilities and various support infrastructures, which have helped to attract incoming productions from studios and content streaming companies, including unscripted productions. Screen Ireland's National Talent Academy network includes: the National Talent Academy for Film and Television, which is led by Ardán in Galway; the National Talent Academy for Animation, which is led by Animation Ireland; the National Talent Academy for VFX, which is led by the Cultural and Creative Industries Skillnet; and three regional academies, which are currently managed by the Atlantic Academy in Galway, Film in Limerick, and the Clermont Enterprise Hub in Wicklow. The network has been established to develop a highly skilled and diverse talent and crew base throughout the country and offers a wide range of activities for the Irish screen industry, including courses, programmes and career opportunities. Addressing innovation, skills development and sectoral growth, the national talent academies are the result of additional stimulus investment provided by the Department. They form part of a wider strategy to support skills development across all regions in the country. They also seek to address educational skills gaps in the screen sector and drive more Irish talent from all backgrounds into the Irish screen industry.
Sentiment score: 0.47
I thank all of the Deputies for raising this really important question. I have done a number of trade missions to north America with Screen Ireland and the film sector. It is my intention to do another one to Canada and the United States of America early in the spring because there is substantial potential here. That potential is driven by talent, infrastructure, our climate and the existing section 481 tax relief. Since I have become Minister, there have been increases to the scéal scheme uplift, which is for smaller productions. In addition, we are the first country within the European Union to introduce an uplift for unscripted productions. There have been some discussions with regard to a regional uplift. As Deputy Ó Snodaigh has rightly said, there was one previously but the Covid pandemic put the kibosh on it so we do not really have full data as to what it would have done. I want to revisit it. I have had initial discussions with the Department of Finance on the matter. It would obviously require changes to next year's tax Acts. My priority for this year was to get an increase in core funding for Screen Ireland, which I did, and to bed down the unscripted uplift, which we have done. Over the course of the year and in the run-up to the next budget, I will be looking at regional measures under section 481.
Sentiment score: 0.18
As I have previously outlined to other Deputies, the programme for Government contains this commitment because we believe culture and arts are essential to a well-rounded society and provide opportunities for education, expression and community engagement. A network of cultural infrastructure exists throughout the country, the majority of which is in the ownership of local authorities. Annual support, including programming and revenue, is provided to the arts and culture infrastructure by local authorities and the Arts Council. The Department focuses on providing capital grants funding for artists' development and to maintain arts and cultural facilities. In the budget, the Department was allocated €6 million for a new programme of capital funding for arts and culture organisations across the country in line with the commitment in the programme for Government. The Deputy will be aware this scheme was one of the key recommendations of the Oireachtas joint committee report published in July 2024, when he was Leas-Chathaoirleach. This will see much-needed capital supports for communities, including funding for essential equipment for organisations such as amateur drama groups and musical societies. The Department is in the process of designing the scheme, including the setting-out of the eligibility criteria. This will need the approval of the Minister for Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation before it can be launched. It will also need to be brought to Government. In the interim, under stream E of the cultural capital scheme, grants of up €20,000 are available for not-for-profit dedicated arts and culture organisations at 85% of the funding rate. Larger grants of up to €50,000, as I said to Deputy Aird, are provided under stream E, at a maximum grant funding of 70%. Local authority-owned facilities are subject to a maximum of 60%. This is a rolling scheme that is demand-led and full details are available. Another cultural capital funding scheme available from the Department is the €6 million pilot artist workspaces scheme launched in June 2024. Under this scheme, local authorities are invited to propose projects which enable them to provide additional artist workspaces in their regions on a sustainable basis and produce workspaces which are fit for purpose. Funding of up €300,000 is available for densely populated local authority areas and €150,000 for others.
Sentiment score: 0.26
That is exactly what we are doing. We are starting with a small amount because we want to test the water and get an understanding of how the scheme will work. When sports capital was introduced fadó, fadó, it started at a very small level. When I was Minister of State in the Department the last time, in 2016, the amount available for sports capital was paltry compared to what is available from our Department now - north of €250 million. We need to start somewhere. This is a small scheme. If we are inundated with demand, which I expect we will be, it will strengthen my resolve to increase the amount available in next year's budget. It is capital and not current so it has to be approved under the NDP. We have to see first who the interested parties are. The scheme has not been designed yet but I expect that when I bring proposals to Government, it will be levelled at the local authorities in the first instance to be the applicants because this is work they should be doing anyway. This should be assistance rather than subvention.
Sentiment score: 0.17
I agree with both Deputies. Whether it is arts or sport, we will prioritise areas with growing and burgeoning populations but without facilities. I am going to be very critical of local authorities again. Local authorities have in many cases allowed houses to be built all over the place and done very well out of development levy contribution schemes. Where has the money gone? We have to be honest. In many cases, the Government is being asked to plug holes created by local authorities. They have built thousands of houses, which we need, but amenities seem to be secondary to many local authorities across the country. You cannot build houses without building communities. I am anxious that whatever scheme we introduce is not an alternative to the local authorities doing their jobs. While many community groups across the country have taken on the initiative for it, this is in primary legislation as, first and foremost, a responsibility of the local authorities. In many cases, they have abjectly failed to do their job, walked away from it and made it the Government's responsibility. Meanwhile, many of them are sitting on huge cash reserves from development levy contributions. We have to ask some difficult questions of our local authorities as well.
Sentiment score: 0.04