As Ireland’s $1,500-a-month basic income pilot program for creatives nears its end in February, officials have to answer a simple question: Is it worth it?
With four months to go, they say the answer is yes.
Earlier this month, Ireland’s government announced its 2026 budget, which includes “a successor to the pilot Basic Income Scheme for the Arts to begin next year” among its expenditures.
Ireland is just one of many places experimenting with guaranteed basic income programs, which provide recurring, unrestricted payments to people in a certain demographic. These programs differ from a universal basic income, which would provide payments for an entire population.
It’s weird that doing this just for artists flew there. I can only imagine the uproar that idea would generate here.
It’s not weird if you know Irish history.
For centuries the English has tried to erase Irish culture.
Something the vast majority of Irish aren’t happy about…
This spreads Irish culture, so theres likely a lot of support for it. Like, think about how much 99% of the world hates the English for erasing their culture and centuries of human rights abuses…
The only culture that’s been fucked with by English royalty more than England is Ireland. And there’s a lot of culture pride there as a result because they’ve never given up.
For sure, it must be a more respected occupation there. The entirety of Ireland basically being the IRA, I’m not so sure about.