How often do we hear about the arts on the news compared to sports? Ireland is a nation that boasts countless artists, writers, and poets across fields, including literary greats like Oscar Wilde and Samuel Beckett, to modern talents like Hozier and Saoirse Ronan. Yet, despite this cultural pride, unpredictability and low income have defined what it means to be an artist in Ireland for the past few decades.
Ireland’s creative world now finds itself at a crossroads. Policies like the Basic Income for the Arts and calls for greater visibility are bringing prominence to the arts sector. However, rising costs of living, uneven funding, and the growing rise of artificial intelligence continue to pose a threat to the livelihood of artists. Meaningful progress entails recognizing the arts as a public necessity–one that deserves national attention and stability in an era of rapid automation.
In 2022, Ireland made a historic decision to instate the Basic Income for Arts Pilot Scheme, which gives 2,000 artists €325 a week. The idea was that those in creative work deserve a consistent income like any other profession. Many of those chosen for the pilot were artists who could not afford to live and work in Dublin full-time. The pilot program ran for three years and the stipend offered something priceless: time. It offered a way for artists to focus on creating instead of grappling to survive.
This October, Patrick O’Donovan, Ireland’s Minister for Culture, Communication, and Sport, announced that the scheme would become permanent in 2026, signifying a long-term investment in the country’s creative future. The stipend is awarded by lottery, meaning not every artist will benefit equally. Nevertheless, the benefits are tangible for the artists who receive them, representing a step forward in establishing the arts as a matter of national importance.
Acclaimed Irish actor Brendan Gleeson agrees that we must prioritise the arts. He recently urged RTÉ to add a regular arts segment to the Six One News, saying we need to “levitate it in the national conversation”. Such visibility could reframe art to the public, especially young people, from an unattainable and precarious career to one worth aspiring to.
Even with increased visibility, however, the omnipresent challenge of Artificial Intelligence (AI) persists. The Irish government’s AI Advisory Council warns that generative AI threatens creative jobs and originality, translating to a loss of income and employment for many artists. AI can write and compose faster and cheaper than a human, yet without much depth or emotional insight. For Irish artists, the Basic Income Scheme offers monetary support and therefore protection; it offers a defense in a rigged game where creativity is being outpaced by algorithms.
While AI poses a risk of erasing the people who shape culture, there is reason for hope. The permanent establishment of the Basic Income Scheme and its protection of artistic life illustrates this, but if creative innovation is truly to be maintained, the ongoing support of artists is crucial, and art must be treated as an essential element of life. The arts will always hold an irreplaceable beauty, and it is time it is recognized not as superfluity, but as the true backbone of culture.
