this post was submitted on 19 Oct 2025
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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.

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[–] mrfriki@lemmy.world 43 points 4 days ago (7 children)

This should be the default for anybody in the world. From there on work if you want more. We are social, economical and technologically capable of doing it. Is the 1% the ones preventing it from happening.

[–] matsdis@piefed.social 1 points 4 hours ago

In Switzerland, 77% of the population voted against. Granted, the 1% may have influenced the voters by spending money on campaigns, or even by creating a narrative over decades. And maybe that proposal was too ambitious. But in the end, it was not just the 1% who voted against but 77%. There is still a lot of skepticism against UBI, despite all the positive evidence.

[–] floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

0.00004% (billionaires over world population), but yeah. Somebody please tell me why we're using technology to "make money" instead of progressing the human living standard

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[–] SethTaylor@lemmy.world 60 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (17 children)

I've been struggling for years, living in poverty since I was 18 despite having just about the best education you can have in my field. I've made desperate decisions and risky moves to keep a roof over my head all while being spat on by all sorts of people and weathering wave after wave of politically motivated anti-intellectualism and it's 2AM and I'm exhausted from digging a fucking trench to install pipes for the shitty house in the middle of buttfuck nowhere that I've had to move to in order to be able to work from home...

And this piece of news made me cry a little. Even though I don't live in Ireland.

Cause I know how it is to feel like there's no way out and to watch how everyone consumes art daily like addicts all while saying artists don't matter and we should be grateful for the "privilege" we have and yelling "get a real job" anytime you complain.

And that's my piece. Bring on the logical arguments. I've laid out my feelings.

Also, UBI for everyone would be fucking amazing. Why we're not doing that is beyond me. It's like "they" think that without a "carrot on a stick" everyone will stop working. If I had a penny for everyone who practically can't think straight because of how worried they are about basic needs I'd probably save those pennies for my own basic needs. Fear is not a good motivator for workers.

[–] Mr_Dr_Oink@lemmy.world 10 points 4 days ago

Fear is a good motivator for committing crime. But not for getting a job.

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[–] nulluser@lemmy.world 91 points 5 days ago (2 children)
[–] _edge@discuss.tchncs.de 74 points 5 days ago (1 children)

Also:

Selection process

The department expects a high volume of applications and it will not be possible to provide funding to all eligible applicants.

Selection will be a non-competitive process. Once an applicant satisfies the eligibility criteria they will be included in an anonymised random sampling process to determine the pilot participants from the pool of eligible applicants for the BIA Pilot.

Funding for the scheme will allow for approximately 2,000 eligible applicants to participate in the pilot scheme.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 29 points 5 days ago (11 children)
[–] MNByChoice@midwest.social 106 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

Lotteries avoid issues with the deciding committee handing these to their friends.

To an extent, it also can provide better data on outcomes. Instead of biasing for the most motivated, it includes a wider pool, so of whom may otherwise be seen as "unworthy". Then people do people things.

[–] Meron35@lemmy.world 19 points 4 days ago

Not just "to an extent." Randomised Controlled Trials (lotteries) are the gold standard for evaluating policy. The political optics for the general public unfortunately aren't great, but the resulting data will be much more ironclad to refute anyone who argues for repealing such a scheme in the future.

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[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 27 points 5 days ago (2 children)

you see this a lot with these pilots. its funny because you don't really see the actual benefits until everyone gets it. Someone can breathe and take some classes to get into a profession or take some time to get into better shape to become a first responder or start a business.

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[–] KaChilde@sh.itjust.works 48 points 4 days ago (10 children)

A lot of gatekeepers in the comments who seem to love the idea of a UBI, but hate any attempt to test the viability of one.

I think this is a great step towards proving the benefits of a UBI for the greater population. I believe supporting the arts is always a positive endeavour, so using them as the pilot program kills two birds with one stone. I think that randomising who gets to enter the pilot program may allow some people to game the system, but the benefits outweigh the possibility of one schyster scamming a paycheque. The lottery system stops this becoming a bonus for established or famous artists, and supports creatives in all areas.

All in all, this is a good thing, and the people who want “all or nothing” are short sighted.

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[–] GuyLivingHere@lemmy.ca 11 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

Good news. I hope Canada gets there, but I doubt we will. We are too focused on oil expansion and infrastructure to pay any mind to the 'dirty poors' right now.

If we had kept Petro Canada as a crown corporation past the 1980s, we could be funding UBI NOW, but of course, conservatives fucked that up.

[–] CancerMancer@sh.itjust.works 5 points 3 days ago

conservatives fucked that up

That was a Conservative + Liberal special, both of them selling off our assets all over the place.

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[–] Spark@lemmy.zip 28 points 4 days ago (9 children)

As laudable as a program as this is, it stings a bit being in Ireland, which has essentially become a tax haven for multinational corporations. It is nice to support the arts, but it shouldn't come off the backs of shadily robbing world governments of billions in tax revenues. The cultural impacts of this have become extremely toxic, and hostile to the arts overall internationally.

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[–] Treczoks@lemmy.world 24 points 4 days ago (14 children)

The question is: Who or what determines if you are an artist?

[–] ynthrepic@lemmy.world 19 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (6 children)

This is why universal* basic is the proper way. We're heading toward a world where there will never be enough existing jobs for everyone who wants to work, let alone those who can't work, and finally the smallest cohort, those who don't want to "work" at all.

The administrative burden of means testing so many people is absurd. And when you do and they fail then what?

People who are against looking after the unemployed rarely say the quiet part out loud. That they don't care about homelessness, disease, violent crime, or whatever, since they can isolate themselves away from it. The law works for them, and so does the system, so they're safe. So let the peasants who refuse to tow the line figure it out on their own.

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[–] Ullallulloo@civilloquy.com 7 points 4 days ago (8 children)

Here's the prior guidelines. You generally had to show your membership in an art organization and that you made an income selling art. Then they just randomly picked names of those people.

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[–] QuarkVsOdo@lemmy.world 13 points 4 days ago

Basic income AND a liveable minimum Wage should be mandatory. Our societies have evolved so that we have more than enough of everything already.

[–] Corridor8031@lemmy.ml 55 points 5 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (5 children)

as long as influencers dont count as artists, does this sound great

edit: i still want everyone to get UBI and like rather have artists + influencers than none

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 69 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (7 children)

That attitude is why the wealthy will always insist on means testing to oppose progress...

The attitude we need is:

I hope as many people as possible get it now, and we'll keep working on the rest.

Influencers suck, pretty much as a rule.

But everyone deserves to live. And them being UBI proponents and constantly talking about it because they're genuinely happy they got it is a hell of a lot better than them taking cash from a billionaire to pit us against each other.

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[–] RedFrank24@lemmy.world 11 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago) (3 children)

Feels like this is going to devolve into a bit of an Old Boys Club. As in, only 'recognised' artists get the basic income, and who decides who gets recognised? Art organisations, and those will very quickly restrict their membership or else be flooded by anyone who claims to be an artist and can get an AI to spit out some slop and get some moron to buy it.

Then, the government can go to those art organisations and go "Right, no more art critical of the government or we won't be recognising your organisation for the Basic Income scheme", thus cutting off the funding for the membership and, driven by the need to eat and survive, said membership will alter their art to be more comfortable to whoever happens to be in charge at the time.

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[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 32 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (7 children)

that's unfair. what classifies as "art"? am i an artist? I'm not sure.

i think a major point of the UBI scheme was the broad democratic support because everyone benefits from it. if only a specific group of people gets it, that's just another way to split the society. not what we need.


also by the way what i find interesting is that UBI wouldn't actually have to pay for 100% of people's living expenses. imagine i get a $100, then i'm gonna spend $30 of that on food at a nearby restaurant, so the chef and waiters are gonna get money, which they then spend again ... what i'm saying is that $1 in UBI does far more than $1, because people are gonna spend it and then other people are gonna have it ... so you probably need to pay far less than 100% of living expenses, only like maybe 30% could be enough.

[–] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 22 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (2 children)

that’s unfair.

Crabs in a Bucket

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[–] gandalf_der_12te@discuss.tchncs.de 20 points 5 days ago (2 children)

also by the way what i find interesting is that UBI wouldn't actually have to pay for 100% of people's living expenses. imagine i get a $100, then i'm gonna spend $30 of that on food at a nearby restaurant, so the chef and waiters are gonna get money, which they then spend again ... what i'm saying is that $1 in UBI does far more than $1, because people are gonna spend it and then other people are gonna have it ... so you probably need to pay far less than 100% of living expenses, only like maybe 30% could be enough.

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[–] Petter1@discuss.tchncs.de 7 points 4 days ago

I wish, a country would finally decide to give general basic income and would flourish in many new creative companies of all sort fucking all the established big corporations only existing to hinder real progress…

[–] youngGoku@lemmy.world 12 points 4 days ago (5 children)

I want to become an artist and move to Ireland now.

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[–] Prizefighter@lemmy.world 9 points 4 days ago

Had this been the US our government and the Far Right would say artists owe them $1500 a month.

[–] vk6flab@lemmy.radio 35 points 5 days ago (1 children)

I wonder what the criteria are to define what an artist is, or what requirements are needed to qualify for such assistance.

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[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 30 points 5 days ago (8 children)

Reminds me of when Ireland uploaded one of the most ridiculous rap videos ever to their country's youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljPFZrRD3J8

They've always prioritized the arts, mostly because the English have been trying to erase Irish culture for centuries.

It makes perfect since why Ireland would prioritize Irish artists.

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[–] telllos@lemmy.world 8 points 4 days ago (1 children)

Why did basic income fell of our radar? And were left with fasism everywhere?

[–] hayvan@feddit.nl 9 points 4 days ago

Because wealth loves Fascism, and and has the propaganda power.

[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 17 points 5 days ago (1 children)

This would fix me

I hate being alive.

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