Over a dozen Carlow artists are in receipt of a national pilot support payment of €325 a week.

The Basic Income for the Arts pilot is providing payments to 2,000 recipients nationally for a period of three years, having commenced in October. There are 16 artists based in Carlow that had qualified for the pilot. The figure was revealed following a question in the Dáil by Deputy Jennifer Murnane O’Connor.

Arts Minister Catherine Martin commented: “The pilot will research, over a three-year period, the impact of a basic income style payment on artists and creative arts workers. I have established the scheme very firmly as a research project so that an evidence base can be developed around the impact of the payment which will inform future government policy in relation to how Ireland supports her artists.”