Basic Income in Ireland: The Development of Two Pilots

Introduction

Although Ireland has not yet had a basic income pilot, it is currently planning to initiate one or two in 2022. A prescient Basic Income Green Paper was published in 2002, but the further development of basic income in Ireland was not seriously considered by the Government until recently when the current Programme for Government committed to running a universal basic income pilot. As it has transpired, a seemingly ad hoc twin-track approach has been taken to the implementation of this commitment, with one government department undertaking research to inform the implementation of a universal basic income pilot, while another government department has progressed the development of a sectoral basic income pilot for artists and arts workers.

So, why has Ireland decided to initiate a basic income pilot now? What are the key drivers of this decision? How is it being progressed, and why are two different approaches being taken? To what extent is the Irish approach being influenced by other European basic income experiments, and what are the unique features of the Irish approach that can contribute to our understanding of basic income experimentation in Europe?

This paper tracks the development of basic income considerations within the Irish social welfare system and its various reform proposals, including why they were not implemented at the time. It goes on to discuss the motivations for considering the development of a basic income pilot at this time, explaining the composition of the current Coalition Government and who has responsibility for implementing the commitment to a basic income pilot in the Programme for Government. The paper then presents the current details on the proposed basic income pilot for arts workers, as well as reactions to it. The paper concludes by reflecting on how the commitment to a basic income pilot in Ireland has played out to date and on its potential to contribute to the European basic income discourse.

Context for Basic Income in Ireland

The Irish social welfare system is broadly modelled on the British system, with a Beveridge-based system of social insurance supported by means-tested benefits. The first mention of basic income in an Irish context was by the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) in 1978 when examining how personal income tax and transfers might be integrated (NESC, 1978). It led to very little debate on basic income until the Commission on Taxation briefly considered the idea of basic income in 1982 in the context of tax reform, followed by the Commission on Social Welfare in 1986. Both these Commissions rejected basic income on cost grounds (Commission on Taxation, 1982; Department of Social Welfare, 1986). However, basic income advocates claimed that the calculations costing basic income for these Commissions were superficial (Social Justice Ireland, 2021).

In 1996, an Expert Working Group on the Integration of Tax and Social Welfare Systems examined basic income and concluded that a full basic income scheme would be problematic, as the high taxation rates required to fund it could have a detrimental effect on employment (Department of Social, Community and Family Affairs, 1996). The Expert Working Group also examined two variants: a basic income for children; and a partial basic income. A basic income for children was essentially Child Benefit, which is a payment received by all children and has been substantially increased since 1996 to help alleviate child poverty and smooth the transition from welfare to work. The increases in Child Benefit, which coincided with the publication of Ireland's National Anti-Poverty Strategy in 1997 and the ‘Celtic tiger’ years of the late-1990s, were informed rather than driven by the Expert Working Group's report. A partial basic income, in the form of a lower level of payment, was not pursued. It was seen to lose many of the attractions of a universal basic income, in that it would require top-up payments.

Nevertheless, the work of the Expert Working Group on the Integration of Tax and Welfare Systems stimulated research and debate on basic income. Researchers at the Irish Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) undertook detailed studies of a basic income approach (Callan et al., 1994, 1999, 2000). The ESRI estimated that the introduction of a basic income system would require a single effective tax rate on all personal income of around 48% (based on 1999 data), although the precise rate would depend on factors like the rate of basic income selected as well as economic, labour, and behavioural effects. The ESRI researchers also found that the basic income system under analysis could potentially raise more than half of those who would be below the 40% poverty line above it. However, the researchers stressed that there was a considerable amount of uncertainty in predicting the dynamic aspect of basic income. Some anticipated responses could be withdrawal from the labour force by certain groups, especially married women with children, less willingness to work additional hours, and increased immigration of lower-skilled workers and emigration of higher-skilled people (Johnston, 2021).

The Conference of Religious of Ireland (CORI) and Social Justice Ireland ¹ have been influential groups in advocating for basic income over the years. They disputed elements of the ESRI approach, especially the costings, and undertook their own analysis. In 1997, they published ‘Pathways to a Basic Income’, which argued that the introduction of a basic income system in Ireland would have positive effects on the labour market and outlined a number of options (Clark and Healy, 1997). However, an ESRI review of this work concluded that a reduction in labour supply as a result of a move to a basic income scheme would add to pressure on wages, and potentially on inflation and competitiveness (Callan et al., 1999).

There were some differences in the approaches adopted by analysts of basic income. The ESRI analysis proposed that each adult of working age would receive an untaxed payment equivalent to that paid as unemployment assistance. Older people would receive a slightly higher amount in line with the pension payment, and children would receive smaller amounts. All social welfare payments would be discontinued and discretionary tax reliefs would be retained. The application of this approach was rejected on the basis of its cost. CORI's approach proposed paying a full basic income to older people and children but a partial basic income to adults of working age. Discretionary tax reliefs would be abolished. Overall, this approach would be less costly.

At a political level, the Green Party has been a long-time advocate of universal basic income. In 1997, it proposed the introduction of a basic income for everyone, which would be introduced on a phased basis over time and paid either directly or as a tax credit. ² Until recently, however, the Green Party has been small in Ireland, and so was not particularly influential in government formation in the 1990s. It was the Labour Party - which had been in government since 1992 - that included a commitment to producing a White Paper on Basic Income in its election manifesto in the run up to the 1997 General Election. While the Labour Party did not form part of the next Government in 1997, the incoming Fianna Fáil/Progressive Democratic Government - a centrist and a small centre-right party – included a commitment to a Basic Income Green Paper in its Programme for Government. ³ At the time, CORI claimed to have influenced this decision (Social Justice Ireland, 2021).

In 2002, the Government published a Basic Income Green Paper (Government of Ireland, 2002). The objectives of the Green Paper were to facilitate discussion of the issues and examine the implications of the introduction of a basic income system in Ireland, as well as discuss a possible framework for the development of a basic income system and its alternatives in meeting the underlying objectives of social inclusion, income adequacy, simplicity, and economic efficiency. The Green Paper concluded that the introduction of a basic income system would involve considerable changes to established tax and welfare systems, and that substantial increases in taxation (or reductions in social welfare benefits or other expenditures) were needed to finance basic income. The Green Paper also suggested that there would be behavioural changes that were difficult to predict. At the time, this placed Ireland as a frontrunner in Europe in terms of basic income aspirations.

The Department of Finance estimated that the tax rate required to finance the Green Paper proposal would be 48%, while the Green Paper showed that a large majority of those living in poverty would benefit from a basic income. Nevertheless, the Basic Income Green Paper proposals were not progressed, as they were considered too costly in terms of higher tax rates. Coincidently, this was a period of strong economic growth from 1995 to 2007, commonly referred to as the ‘Celtic tiger’ years. Employment was increasing, unemployment and poverty rates were falling, social welfare rates saw substantial increases, and the arguments for basic income waned.

In 2005, the National Economic and Social Council (NESC) published an influential report on the Developmental Welfare State (DWS), which was subsequently used by government as a framework for developing Irish social welfare policies. Recognising the emphasis of Ireland's social welfare system on income supports, the DWS argued for the radical improvement of services (education, health, childcare, etc.). The report argued that services and income support should be complemented by activist measures, such as community/group projects that address emerging new needs. These three overlapping areas - services, income support, and activist measures - were seen as the core structure of Ireland's welfare state. There was no mention of basic income, although the idea of a participation income was floated based on Tony Atkinson's exposition (Atkinson, 1996; National Economic and Social Council, 2005). Arguably, basic income could have been trialled as an activist measure, as enunciated by Martinelli and Vanderborght (2022) in their paper on basic income and social investment, for example; but this was never proposed.

Social welfare reforms took a different form after the economic crash of 2008. This was a period of welfare cuts, institutional restructuring, and labour market activation. Social Justice Ireland advocated refundable tax credits with an emphasis on the working poor. This is where one’s income is insufficient to use up all of one’s tax credits, and so the remaining tax credit is paid to the individual by means of a cash transfer (Social Justice Ireland, 2010). Social Justice Ireland contended that a refundable tax credit could be a mechanism for implementing a basic income.

Further work by Social Justice Ireland (Healy et al., 2012; Murphy, 2018, 2019; Murphy and Ward, 2016; Ward, 2018) spelled out developments on basic income in Ireland, including further costings and the potential effects of basic income on poverty. Social Justice Ireland deemed that the affordability of a universal basic income depended on the parameters of the payment, such as the level of the payment, the benefits it replaces and which (if any) remain, and the eligibility conditions. They argue that it is possible to design a structure of universal basic income that is both affordable and sustainable.

The other main proponent of basic income in Ireland has been the Green Party. However, this is a more chequered exposition of the concept. Within the Green Party, there are those who adhere to Green Party principles but are prepared to make compromises to get some of their policies implemented. Others are less willing to compromise and take a more fundamental or radical view. The pragmatists were to the fore when the Green Party entered the Coalition Government with Fianna Fáil in 2007. In this government term, basic income was not one of the priorities. The party was decimated at the end of their term in 2011, which covered the period of the economic crash. However, the party has since taken time to rebuild; and, with climate change becoming of increasing public concern, the Green Party has experienced a rise in popularity and now encapsulates a more diverse range of views, including a radical ‘just transition’ perspective.

This more radical perspective advocates for basic income; and in 2019, the Green Party published its ‘universal basic income policy’, which proposed to introduce a system of universal basic income (UBI) for all Irish residents by 2024. The party contended that the adult payment would lift people out of poverty, but the rate of payment would be variable from birth to age 26 (Green Party, 2019).

More recently, the NESC has published a report approved by the Irish Government on the future of the Irish welfare system (NESC, 2020). In it, the NESC proposed piloting a participation income to encourage greater participation and progression within an educational and/or work environment. The idea behind the participation income is that currently unpaid but socially valuable work, such as voluntary or caring work, is recognised in some way. To see how such a scheme might work, the NESC suggested undertaking a pilot targeted at people who are not currently in the labour force but who could make a contribution to their local community or society.

This idea of a participation income has not been progressed or adopted by the Irish Government. It has been argued that a participation income can address unmet social needs, and that an income transfer programme such as participation income can be a policy tool to motivate people to engage in socially valuable activities (Pérez-Muňoz, 2018). However, one of the main criticisms of a participation income is its administrative complexity. De Wispelaere and Stirton contend that to operationalise a participation requirement, a set of criteria would need to be established that would define and identify a wide range of informal and ‘less institutionalised’ types of participation activities. Negotiating these definitional issues would require political trade-offs which, they argue, would be better addressed through a partial basic income (De Wispelaere and Stirton, 2018).

From an Irish labour market perspective, Murphy and McGann (2020) contend that a participation income places the emphasis of welfare reform on decommodification (decoupling social security from labour market participation) rather than on unconditionality. In reforming welfare, they promote the idea of a participation income alongside universal basic services rather than arguing for a universal basic income per se. They align this approach to the 2015 Participation Act in the Netherlands, which requires claimants to meet social participation requirements as a condition of receiving assistance. These can be fulfilled through paid work but also volunteering, further education, and caregiving.

Given the waxing and waning of interest in basic income in Ireland over the last 40 years or so, with concerns mainly focused on its potential costs and benefits plus variants, why is Ireland committing to a basic income pilot now?

Why is Ireland Committing to a Basic Income Pilot Now?

Following a general election in February 2020, there was no clear majority. Negotiations to form a government continued until June, when a three-party coalition was formed between the two main traditional Irish parties, Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, along with the Green Party. A Programme for Government was agreed on 15 June 2020, which contained a commitment to a basic income pilot:

Request the Low Pay Commission to examine Universal Basic Income, informed by a review of previous international pilots, and resulting in a universal basic income pilot in the lifetime of the Government (Government of Ireland, 2020a: 76).

But why has Ireland decided to progress a basic income pilot at this time?

As outlined earlier, the main reason is that one of the current Government Coalition partners, the Green Party, is a long-time proponent of basic income. On foot of its 2019 universal basic income policy, the Green Party included such an aspiration in its election manifesto, Towards 2030: A Decade of Change, prior to the 2020 election. Here, it proposed to move towards a system of UBI through gradual reform of the tax and welfare systems by building on existing payments, although this was not one of the twelve stated manifesto priorities. The party specifically mentioned introducing a trial study of UBI similar to those carried out in Finland and Canada (Green Party, 2020).

The Fianna Fáil election manifesto, An Ireland for All, contained a commitment to establish a Basic Income Commission. While not a strong advocate for basic income, this party was in government when the Basic Income Green Paper was published in 2002, and some people in the left of the party have advocated for a basic income over the years. The party’s 2020 manifesto set this commitment in the context of modernising the welfare state, referring to the need to address such issues as the transformative impact of technology. The manifesto stated the Basic Income Commission would draw upon evidence that would be used to shape social welfare policy into the future, estimating that this would cost €1 million ‘based on similar models’ but without specifying what these would be (Fianna Fail, 2020). The current Prime Minister, Micheál Martin, is from the Fianna Fail party.

There is no mention of basic income in the manifesto of the third government partner, Fine Gael. Yet, the Low Pay Commission sits within the remit of the Minister of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar, who is the current leader of Fine Gael and Deputy Prime Minister. The main opposition party, Sinn Féin, does not have a policy on basic income and has never advocated for basic income.

A particularly influential factor in progressing the Programme for Government commitment on basic income is that the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (TCAGSM), Catherine Martin, is the deputy leader of the Green Party and an advocate of basic income. Arts workers have been particularly hard hit by the pandemic, unable to work for much of the time since Covid-19 struck due to a number of lockdowns and restrictions on meeting indoors and large gatherings. Thus, they have needed to avail of the government measures put in place to sustain people and businesses impacted by the restrictions, such as the Pandemic Unemployment Payment (PUP) and Employment Wage Subsidy Scheme (EWSS), ⁴ for longer periods than many others.

A contributory factor is that the changing nature of work, as exposed by the pandemic, as well as digitisation and a just transition to meeting climate change targets have opened up a debate about the suitability of the current welfare system for meeting future demands. Hence, there is a greater openness to piloting alternative models, such as basic income. This has led politicians and government officials to consider the lessons emerging from basic income experiments that have been undertaken in a number of countries. Especially influential has been the Finnish pilot, which was widely discussed in the Irish media. Both countries have similar population sizes (circa 5 million) and government parties influenced by agrarian/rural backgrounds, which tend to favour flat-rate, tax-financed benefits as opposed to contributory welfare schemes. Nevertheless, there are substantive differences in the welfare models of both countries: that is, Ireland is a liberal state, and Finland is a Nordic state (Esping-Andersen, 1990). The Finnish basic income experiment was seen as particularly relevant and interesting to Ireland because it was the first basic income experiment that was nationwide, statutory, and based on a randomised field experiment. However, it focused on unemployed people rather than the population as a whole. Its concentration on addressing the changing nature of work, promoting active participation, giving people a stronger incentive to work, reducing bureaucracy, and simplifying the benefits system resonated in Ireland.

In Finland, however, the experiment was received with a certain amount of ambivalence, with a strong contingent suggesting it largely failed to demonstrate a positive employment impact. Looking beyond employment, recipients of basic income were found to be healthier, less stressed, and have a more positive outlook on life. Some commentators have been critical of how the Finnish basic income pilot was implemented, noting the need to secure political commitment from the start and keep the public informed (De Wispelaere et al., 2019). These lessons strike a chord with those considering basic income in Ireland.

A supportive element conducive to the introduction of a basic income pilot in Ireland was that government finances were in a healthy state prior to the commitment in the Programme for Government. At the end of 2018, the government surplus was €0.2 billion - the first surplus since 2007 (Central Statistics Office, 2019). Experience with basic income pilots elsewhere - for example, in Finland (De Wispelaere et al., 2019) and Canada (Forget, 2020) - has shown that an absence of funding can operate as a constraint on pilots, especially in relation to their scope, evaluation, and potential expansion.

Thus, a range of influential factors - such as the composition of the current Coalition Government and a Green Party Minister for the arts - and contributory factors - such as the need for support for artists during the Covid-19 pandemic, the changing nature of work, and available finance - has prompted the commitment to introduce an Irish basic income pilot at this time. Lessons emerging from pilots elsewhere have also informed basic income discussions in Ireland. So, how has the commitment to a basic income pilot been developed and what are the reactions to the initiative to date?

How the Commitment to a Basic Income Pilot is being Progressed in Ireland

The commitment to introduce a basic income pilot in Ireland was placed in the remit of the Low Pay Commission (LPC), which falls under the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. The Minister is the leader of the Fine Gael Party, Leo Varadkar. On 15 September 2021, Varadkar informed the Irish Parliament that the LPC is currently examining the introduction of a basic income pilot in Ireland and has commissioned the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) to undertake research on the technical issues that would arise, as well as how such a pilot might be designed. At that time, he stated that the LPC would produce a report by the end of 2021. ⁵

At the same time, a basic income pilot for arts workers is being progressed by the Green Party Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media (TCAGSM), Catherine Martin, following a recommendation by the Arts and Culture Recovery Taskforce. The Arts and Culture Recovery Taskforce was appointed in September 2020 to prepare a report for the Minister, including a set of recommendations on how best the arts and culture sector can adapt to and recover from the devastation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions. The report of the Taskforce, Life Worth Living, was published in October 2020. It set out the context of the contribution of the arts to the economy and society, both nationally and internationally, and recommended a basic income pilot for arts workers among other recommendations.

The remit of the Taskforce extended across culture, the arts, the audio-visual, the live performance, and the events industry in the not-for-profit and commercial sectors (Government of Ireland, 2020b). The wider arts sector (arts, entertainment, and recreation) directly supports 55,000 jobs and had a Gross Added Value of €1.16bn in quarter 4, 2019 (EY, 2020). ⁶ As well as being economically important, the arts add to societal well-being at national, local, and community levels. In other words, ‘the arts are what makes life worth living … they aren't extras’ (Barack Obama, quoted in Government of Ireland, 2020b: 6).

The arts sector has been one of the hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions, with the OECD estimating that jobs at risk range from 0.8% to 5.5% of employment across OECD regions. The OECD also note that policies to support firms and workers during the pandemic can be ill-adapted to the non-traditional business models and forms of employment that tend to be more precarious in the arts and creative sector (OECD, 2020). In Ireland, at the end of August 2020, 58% of workers in the arts and culture sectors were wholly reliant on the PUP or the Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme, which was the precursor to the EWSS. In 2020, the recession in the arts sector was around -55% versus -11% in the Irish economy as a whole (EY, 2020). Therefore, it is argued that workers in the arts sector will need ongoing support if the sector is to avoid long-term damage through the depletion of skills and talent caused by migration away from cultural and creative work and towards more stable sources of income (OECD, 2020).

Against this background, the Irish Arts and Culture Recovery Taskforce identified two main challenges: (i) how the sector can survive until it can open up again; and (ii) how the sector can retain the skills and talent of artists and the wider arts and culture workforce (Government of Ireland, 2020b). Following its deliberations, the Taskforce made ten recommendations, of which the establishment of a pilot basic income scheme with a duration of three years was the first and key recommendation. The Taskforce envisaged that the proposed pilot project would reflect the commitment to a basic income pilot in the Programme for Government.

However, this was not the view of the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar, who has responsibility for the implementation of the pilot through the Low Pay Commission, as specified in the 2020 Programme for Government. He has stated that while there has been contact at ministerial and official levels between those working on developing a universal basic income pilot and those progressing a basic income scheme for arts workers, the two experiments are quite distinct: ‘We are treating these as separate projects’ (Varadkar, 2021). He stressed that the concept underpinning a universal basic income was that it was universal and would be:

a weekly or monthly payment paid to every adult in the state, whether they are Bono or a busker … It would not be men but not women, or people in Louth but not in Cork, or artists but not doctors (Varadkar, 2021).

Minister Varadkar stated that the universal basic income pilot would have to take a random selection of the population to be valid. By contrast, the proposed basic income scheme for arts workers would be sectoral, ‘which will be a bit like a stipend for artists’ (Varadkar, 2021). Thus, it seems that there are to be two separate basic income pilots: a sectoral scheme for artists, which has been developed and is now getting underway; and an anticipated universal basic income pilot, which is still at a research stage and it is unclear how this might be progressed.

The Irish Arts and Culture Recovery Taskforce proposed that the basic income for artists pilot would involve an unconditional state payment at the level of the National Minimum Wage, which was €10.20 per hour in the Taskforce's calculations (but is €10.50 from 1 January 2022). In terms of numbers, 7,042 people were claiming the pandemic unemployment payment (PUP) in the category ‘arts, entertainment, and recreation (including sports)’ in October 2020 when the proposal was being developed by the Taskforce. There were different rates of PUP, with an average payment of €276 per week. Based on 31.9 average weekly paid hours per week (Central Statistics Office, 2020) and a payment of €10.20 per hour, the basic income for artists was costed at €325.38 per week. Average weekly earnings in the arts, entertainment, and recreation sector are €584.84; so, the basic income payment proposed by the Taskforce would replace 55.6% of current average income for this sector. It was estimated that the basic income for arts workers would cost an additional €2.5 million per annum (over and above the PUP cost at the time) per 1,000 participants in the pilot.

It was initially envisaged that the pilot would start in 2021. Following completion of the Taskforce's work, the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media undertook work to develop the pilot scheme. An Oversight Group was established in April 2021 to review progress on the implementation of the recommendations made in the Life Worth Living report. The annual Budget statement in October 2021 announced that €25 million of funding would be provided for the pilot basic income scheme for artists. In mid-December 2021, a stakeholder forum took place to obtain the views of artists and those working in the arts and culture sector. Almost 200 artists and arts workers and 50 representative bodies attended. This was to garner views on the scheme's objectives, eligibility criteria, and participants’ responsibilities. A second phase of online public consultation took place in January 2022. In addition, the Oversight Group reviewed the international literature in relation to models of delivery for different types of basic income supports.

In early January 2022, the Oversight Group published its Progress Report (Department of Tourism, Arts, Culture, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, 2022). Tellingly, in relation to progress on the basic income guarantee pilot scheme for artists and arts workers, the report emphasised that the proposed scheme was not the universal basic income pilot stated in the 2020 Programme for Government. This is in line with Leo Varadkar's statement to the Irish Parliament in September 2021. Rather, the basic income for artists is a sector-specific intervention led by the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

On 5 April 2022, the Irish Government launched the Basic Income for Artists (BIA) pilot scheme. The BIA scheme will examine the impact of basic income on artists and creative arts workers over a three-year period. Monthly payments equivalent to €325 per week will be made to 2,000 eligible artists and creative arts workers, who will be selected at random from the pool of eligible applicants. The scheme opened for applications for a month from 12 April 2022. It is a non-competitive process, so that once a person satisfies the eligibility criteria, they will be included in a randomised selection process. Unsuccessful but eligible applicants will be invited to participate in a control group to facilitate a comprehensive evaluation of the pilot. The payment will not be means-tested but it will be taxable, and recipients of the BIA can earn additional income. ⁷

Reaction to the Proposed Basic Income Pilot for Arts Workers

As expected, arts groups have welcomed the proposed basic income for artists, noting that it will provide a stabilising and supportive financial measure for artists and arts workers. A proviso is that in the assessment of the pilot measures, quantifying artistic productivity should be avoided, thereby allowing for a degree of ‘legitimate idleness’ to give space for creative activity (Long, 2022).

Advocates of basic income, such as the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) and Social Justice Ireland (SJI), have given a more guarded welcome to the proposed basic income pilot for arts workers. BIEN and SJI both argue that Ireland cannot afford to pay a basic income of €325 per week to the whole population; therefore, it is unlikely the pilot would be extended to the whole population, even though this is the underpinning concept of a universal basic income. Instead, they suggest paying the current Jobseekers Benefit rate of €208 per week with an additional artists’ supplement of €117 per week. While this would add a complication to the scheme, BIEN argues it would counteract any accusations of laziness (Healy, 2021). SJI, which is a member of BIEN, suggests four rather than three years to allow more time for assessment (Social Justice Ireland, 2021).

In general, business organisations and trade unions have not been advocates of basic income. The business response has been nuanced: while a universal basic income would undermine current labour market policies, business organisations would be open to a debate on the merits of basic income in supporting entrepreneurship. The trade unions’ focus is on alleviating poverty: money needed for an adequate universal basic income would be better spent on reforming the social protection system and building better quality public services (Gorman, 2020). While the main opposition party, Sinn Féin, has not welcomed the scheme and has quibbled about some of the details, it has not made any substantive criticisms.

A key debate is whether the basic income for artists fulfils the commitment in the Programme for Government to pilot a universal basic income. Although there is some confusion around this, the current position seems to be that the Programme for Government commitment will be advanced by the Fine Gael Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar, as a universal basic income pilot. The proposal of a basic income for artists will be progressed by the Green Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin, as a sectoral basic income pilot. This proposal is more advanced, with a call for applications in April 2022.

Conclusion

Like busses, Ireland has been waiting ages for a basic income pilot … and then two come along at once. Since the 1980s, through various commissions on tax and welfare reform, Ireland has considered basic income schemes. Research on and responses to the commissions’ proposals have mainly been driven by the Green Party and Social Justice Ireland, a non-governmental organisation. The Government produced a Basic Income Green Paper in 2002, but the proposals were not progressed at the time.

Now, the 2020 Programme for Government contains a commitment to pilot a universal basic income. It has transpired that two pilots are being developed: a universal basic income through the Low Pay Commission, overseen by a Fine Gael Minister, Leo Varadkar; and a sectoral basic income for artists driven by a Green Party Minister, Catherine Martin. Historically, the Green Party has advocated for basic income, while Fine Gael has not.

It seems that there has been a power play within the current Coalition Government: the Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar, has formally taken responsibility for a universal basic income pilot; in the meantime, the Green Party Minister for the Arts, Catherine Martin, has taken the initiative to instigate a sectoral basic income pilot within her area of responsibility. This has been expedited by the impact of the pandemic on artists, strengthening the case for a basic income for this sectoral group.

Despite this intra-coalition divergence the Government has been supportive overall of the case articulated by the Arts Minister in allocating budget resources for this purpose, with the Prime Minister (Taoiseach Micheál Martin) and Deputy Prime Minister (Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Leo Varadkar) publicly launching the scheme along with the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin. Here, the focus was very much on the benefits for artists, with no mention of the proposed universal basic income pilot.

Thus, it looks likely that the basic income scheme for artists will be progressed. A budget has been allocated and applications for the scheme were sought in April and May 2022. It is less clear if the proposed universal basic scheme will be progressed. Research is being undertaken to inform this scheme, which will then be considered by the Low Pay Commission, whose recommendations will then have to be deliberated by the Government. Nevertheless, there is a commitment to undertake this universal basic income pilot in the lifetime of the Government. Public statements have indicated that these are two separate initiatives, but it is not clear if, or to what extent, one can inform the other, whether they will progress side by side, or whether they will be integrated in some way. Even so, the sectoral basic income scheme for artists will go ahead as the first basic income pilot in Ireland.