6. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if he will increase the payment under the basic income for the arts scheme in budget 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52583/25]

Sentiment score: 0.11

32. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport if he will make the basic income for the arts scheme permanent in budget 2026; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52584/25]

Sentiment score: 0.01

My question goes back to the previous grouping in relation to the basic income for the arts, BIA, scheme. What the Minister said earlier was unambiguously positive in terms of the evidence of the cost benefit analysis of the scheme. Will the scheme be made permanent? Will it be expanded to four or five times its current size so that all eligible applicants can benefit from it?

Sentiment score: 0.31

The evidence is absolutely clear. As Minister said earlier, the headline from the cost benefit analysis is that society received a benefit of €1.39 for every euro spent on this scheme. The Minister said that he is in favour of this being made permanent, I think, or at least being continued. Does he agree that it should be massively expanded? Just over 8,000 artists applied to this pilot but only 2,000 were selected. It was not a merit-based selection process but instead a lottery. There are another 6,000 artists out there who wanted to participate and contribute in this way. They were not able to because of the limited funds available for the scheme. Imagine if only one in four workers got paid for their work on the basis of a lottery every three years or only in four eligible applicants received job seeker’s payments. Does the Minister agree that the scheme needs to be expanded so that all artists who want to participate and meet the criteria can do so?

Sentiment score: 0.22

Again, it is unambiguously positive. It is positive for the artists who participated and for society as a whole. It provides some sort of halt or counterpressure to the drain of mass emigration of many of our most creative young people who are effectively being driven out of here by the cost-of-living crisis and are going to live in less expensive but creative cities which is sucking the energy and life out of many of our cultural scenes. Is the Minister in favour of the expansion of this scheme to include all who are eligible to participate? This would mean increasing the funding, perhaps even quadrupling it. Another 6,000 artists were eligible for the scheme, having met the criteria, but they lost out on the lottery. We could be getting the benefit of their work as well. Does the Minister agree that there needs to be a new scheme that is open to new applicants so that those who did not apply previously can do so?

Sentiment score: 0.36

83. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Health when she anticipates that no child will have to wait longer than three months for spinal surgery; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [52561/25]

Sentiment score: -0.09