Time for Action: Expand Basic Income to Carers and People with Disabilities

The resounding success of the Basic Income for the Arts (BIA) scheme proves what many have long argued — that a modest, reliable income can transform lives. As the recently published report highlights, the €325 weekly payment has helped artists reduce financial anxiety, gain autonomy, and invest in their creative futures. Now, we must ask: why stop with the arts sector? It is time for the Government to show the same commitment and compassion to carers and people with disabilities, two groups who live daily on the sharp edge of poverty, often unsupported and unheard.

Carers — many of whom are parents, siblings, or spouses — provide vital care that saves the State billions annually. Yet, their reward is often a meagre Carer’s Allowance, subject to restrictive means testing and barely enough to survive on. Likewise, people with disabilities face lifelong barriers to work, education, and independent living, compounded by unaffordable care costs and endless waiting lists. Both groups suffer some of the highest poverty and social exclusion rates in Ireland. The current system leaves them trapped in survival mode, unable to plan for a future, never mind thrive in the present.

If a basic income can empower artists to secure housing, address health needs, and even start families, then surely the same logic must apply to carers and people with disabilities. They, too, deserve dignity. They, too, need stability. The BIA pilot proves that income support does not diminish ambition — it fuels it. For carers, it could mean more time for rest, training, or part-time work. For people with disabilities, it could open doors to independent living, education, and self-determination.

This is not a question of charity — it is a matter of justice. The State has a duty to act. As the Minister for the Arts champions retention of BIA, we call on the Department of Social Protection and the Department of Health to work together to pilot and implement a Basic Income scheme for carers and disabled people immediately. Let us move beyond lip service and towards meaningful reform that recognises the inherent value of all lives.

The Government has the blueprint. It has the evidence. What it needs now is the will to deliver equality.