The Green Party has told Gript that the €72 million Basic Income for the Arts scheme is “cost neutral” to the State, because without it, many recipients would simply “have to go back into the social welfare system and seek jobseekers allowance”:
“It is about eliminating stigma of social welfare.”
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder”: Arts Minister Patrick O’Donovan says that artists who receive taxpayer money under the Basic Income for the Arts scheme are selected “randomly”, not based on the perceived quality of their work.