Basic Income in Ireland: The Development of Two Pilots

This paper provides an overview of Irish dalliances with basic income over the last 40 years in the context of social security reform. A government Green Paper on Basic Income was published in 2002, but the proposals were never progressed. Now, the current 2020 Programme for Government contains a commitment to pilot basic income within the lifetime of the Government. It has transpired that two basic income schemes are being developed – a universal basic income scheme by the Government's Low Pay Commission and a sectoral basic income scheme for artists. The arts proposal is being led by the Green Party Minister for the Arts, a long-time advocate of basic income. The work of the Low Pay Commission is overseen by the Fine Gael leader and Minister for Employment, who has not traditionally supported basic income. Public discourse claims that these are separate proposals with a lack of clarity on whether they will be progressed separately, one will inform the other, or they will become integrated. The work in Ireland has drawn upon other basic income experiments taking place in Europe, especially the Finnish experience. The work to date can make a unique contribution to understanding basic income experimentation in Europe, especially through a government-led, twin-track approach.