Irish political parties pledge to retain Basic Income for the Arts

Several Irish parties have included support for the country’s Basic Income for the Arts scheme as part of their manifestos for the upcoming general election on 29 November.

Fine Gael, Labour, Sinn Féin, Social Democrats, People Before Profit, Fianna Fáil and the Green Party have also promised to retain a previously announced increase in Arts Council funding should they be elected.

Launched by the Green Party in 2022, the basic income pilot scheme was set up to offer 2,000 randomly selected participants €325 (£276.78) a week in monthly instalments between October 2022 and October 2025.

Last month, the Irish government revealed plans to extend the programme after the pilot scheme was awarded €35m as part of a €380m arts and culture package announced in the country’s 2025 budget but did not say how long the initiative would run for.

Within the party manifestos, Labour’s cultural pledges included making the programme permanent while expanding it to younger artists, providing state support for artist spaces, and increasing funding for the Arts Council to €200m.

Meanwhile, Fine Gael’s promises include a €300 culture card for young people, simplifying the licensing for festivals and a new capital investment scheme named Spreagadh to increase the number of performance and artist spaces.