Ireland rolls out basic income scheme for artists • Hacker News Board

Re: Ireland rolls out basic income scheme for artists

#551

Post by some_random » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 3:14 PM UTC

Swizec wrote: post #218

s_dev wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Irish here. It's a cultural thing. Ireland is the only country in the world whose national symbol is a musical instrument. Art is seen as a worthwhile endeavour even if it can't necessarily support itself as a private endeavour. It's for the same reason galleries and museums are subsidised by the government. Anyone can call themselves an artist but to receive this money you would have to have a portfolio of work that…

We have a similar scheme in Slovenia. Don't know the details but there's the concept of a "free artist". At a minimum you need a registered business, regular exhibitions or performances in your field, you have to register with the ministry of culture, and can't have a job. Contract work is allowed and encouraged. Also you are expected to apply when the government issues a Call For Creatives. I think you get paid mini…

Having some kind of government employment scheme and having basic income are two different thing.

Re: Ireland rolls out basic income scheme for artists

#552

Post by kiba » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 3:14 PM UTC

GorbachevyChase wrote: post #437

jimnotgym wrote: post #351

There are some pretty revealing comments here. People seem to think only money has value. Then there are people who see art only as a rich person's pursuit. It can be, but it doesn't need to be. I am reminded of Daniel James also known as Gwyrosydd, his bardic name. He was a Welsh language poet, who wrote probably the greatest Welsh language song, Calon Lân (means 'a pure heart'). People throughout Wales sing this so…

There really is not an objective criteria to find who is and it’s not an artist. The proposed system makes a purely political decision out of who sits at a desk doing unsatisfying but necessary tasks, and who gets to sit at home and smoke dope all day and put out a painting or a song twice a year. Not very fair to the tax donkey fixing the plumbing.

Don't tax labor, or capital which helps assist labor with performing economic activity ,or at least tax as little as possible.

Instead, focus on taxing scarce resources, especially since we cannot make more of it. If it's natural resources coming out of the grounds such as minerals and oil, it becomes a severance tax.

If we're talking about occupying land, then it's a Land Value Tax.

You could also tax negative externalities like pollution or traffic congestion.This is known as a Piguovian tax.

Re: Ireland rolls out basic income scheme for artists

#553

Post by johncoltrane » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 3:16 PM UTC

slibhb wrote: post #531

What's better? Artists competing for the mass public, artists trying to please individual rich patrons, or artists trying to placate some government commission? I think a mix is fine. But there are disadvantages if you weigh too heavily on the latter two. In Europe, there's already quite a lot of government subsidies for art. Try finding a British or French movie that doesn't open by announcing its connection with so…

Well, I don't depend on my art to sustain my livelihood. This allows me to do whatever I want without a care in the world for marketability.

Much better than all three choices combined if you ask me.

Re: Ireland rolls out basic income scheme for artists

#554

Post by reliabilityguy » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 3:17 PM UTC

relistan wrote: post #509

throwaway74628 wrote: post #491

A novel treatment for the proverbial dying man. I understand that this program is currently assigned at random but it’s prudent to assume that they’ll shift to a “merit based” system before long i.e. sweetheart deals for members of the right clique, nepotism, and the occasional worthwhile project. For concrete examples, look no further than the content funded and produced by the national broadcaster, RTE. Aside from…

Alternatively, it's successful and is expanded to support more artists in the future. Cynicism with governance not unjustified in Ireland, but here we are looking at some actual progress.

> Cynicism with governance not unjustified in Ireland

What do you mean?

Re: Ireland rolls out basic income scheme for artists

#555

Post by ecshafer » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 3:18 PM UTC

jimnotgym wrote: post #351

There are some pretty revealing comments here. People seem to think only money has value. Then there are people who see art only as a rich person's pursuit. It can be, but it doesn't need to be. I am reminded of Daniel James also known as Gwyrosydd, his bardic name. He was a Welsh language poet, who wrote probably the greatest Welsh language song, Calon Lân (means 'a pure heart'). People throughout Wales sing this so…

Who gets to be an artist? I want to be an artist now. Is it people who go to certain universities with art degrees? Can any working class guy decide he wants to pursue art and get the basic income?

Another question is would Daniel James work have been as good if he wasn't working in an ironworks? In the 1800s most of the great literature was written by normal guys writing on the side, they need that experience to make great art. Heart of Darkness is never going to be written by an academic. Hemmingway doesn't write anything without his experiences in Italy, Spain and France in WWI, Civil War and WWII, if he was just a beat reporter forever, all of his great inspirations don't amount to much. Tolstoy and Doestoyevsky are notable exceptions.

Re: Ireland rolls out basic income scheme for artists

#556

Post by kiba » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 3:20 PM UTC

closewith wrote: post #405

Schlagbohrer wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When Nirvana first moved from their small Washington town to Seattle, they were able to pay their rent + everything else from working minimum wage jobs for 2 weeks a month. They had time to practice music and pursue their art. In an era where working a full time job is not enough to pay the cost of living, arts and culture no longer exist except as hobbies for rich kids. Seattle successfully exterminated their entire…

> In an era where working a full time job is not enough to pay the cost of living, arts and culture no longer exist except as hobbies for rich kids. In Ireland _today_, we are in an era where working as a nurse, paramedic, firefighter, teacher, etc have become unable to pay the cost of living, leaving them to exist only as hobbies for the rich kids who can be subsidised by their parents or immigrant labour willing to…

The problem with a UBI is not the UBI itself, but the fact that landlords could just raise their price.

You need to solve the contradiction within the economy in order to make UBI works.

The current way our taxation policy work is to tax labor and capital, which is the basis of our economy, while flinching away from taxing land, which derives much of its value from the surrounding economic activity rather than an owner's effort.

By the way, the UBI is an old idea. In the 19th century, it was known as the Citizen's Dividend.

Re: Ireland rolls out basic income scheme for artists

#557

Post by bell-cot » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 3:22 PM UTC

mantas wrote: post #524

bell-cot wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, supporting en-masse stuff is important. Artsy or not - playgrounds, parks, football pitches, and other things count. Or spaces for civic choral groups and painting clubs, repairing old church organs, ... For the arts, free studios & such are both en-masse support, and a wider part of the talent funnel (vs. basic incomes). Biggest problem that I see with basic incomes is in selecting who gets those. The article n…

That is a problem too. Offensive art is art too. I'd even argue that offensive art in many cases is better than non-offensive one. But yes, I guess at best „politically correct offensive“ artists will get approved.

A problem for ideological purists, and an opportunity for performative offenders.

Ordinary folks understand the whole "he who pays the piper" thing, and that "democracy" means the voters can choose to support the arts...or not.

Re: Ireland rolls out basic income scheme for artists

#558

Post by stephenbez » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 3:22 PM UTC

jimnotgym wrote: post #327

watwut wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Poor people and middle class people produce art. They both work as artists or do art on the side as a hobby. It is not that expensive either. Expectation that you have portfolio does not strikes me as outrageous either.

Exactly. A sketchbook and pencils cost next to nothing. But being able to take that and turn it into an oil painting on a giant canvas costs real money. Writing a few songs on a guitar from Facebook marketplace is cheap. Turning that into a live show is expensive and time consuming. Writing some Irish language poems on your lunchbreaks is cheap. Doing public readings as an unknown poet is not. Well done Ireland.

> Writing some Irish language poems on your lunchbreaks is cheap. Doing public readings as an unknown poet is not.

How is doing public reading of poetry not cheap?

I have friends who do standup comedy and they just show up at open mic nights and it doesn’t cost them anything. One is good enough that now the venues are paying him a little bit.

Re: Ireland rolls out basic income scheme for artists

#559

Post by dahart » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 3:24 PM UTC

closewith wrote: post #405

Schlagbohrer wrote: post #367

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When Nirvana first moved from their small Washington town to Seattle, they were able to pay their rent + everything else from working minimum wage jobs for 2 weeks a month. They had time to practice music and pursue their art. In an era where working a full time job is not enough to pay the cost of living, arts and culture no longer exist except as hobbies for rich kids. Seattle successfully exterminated their entire…

> In an era where working a full time job is not enough to pay the cost of living, arts and culture no longer exist except as hobbies for rich kids. In Ireland _today_, we are in an era where working as a nurse, paramedic, firefighter, teacher, etc have become unable to pay the cost of living, leaving them to exist only as hobbies for the rich kids who can be subsidised by their parents or immigrant labour willing to…

> does only the arts deserve this

Baby steps. Everyone deserves it, but getting there in one step is politically impossible almost everywhere in the world. Nobody’s saying only the arts deserve subsidies. It’s just easier to justify. But if we want everyone to have basic income, we need to applaud whenever it happens, even if it’s a small subset, and argue they deserve it and that we should have more of it. Complaining about the unfairness of artists being subsidized demonstrates and adds to the political difficultly. If we accept that it’s unfair for a subset, then we might never get basic income since the rich don’t need it and many don’t want it.

Re: Ireland rolls out basic income scheme for artists

#560

Post by someone7x » Thu, Feb 12, 2026, 3:24 PM UTC

EQmWgw87pw wrote: post #500

akudha wrote: post #489

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People throughout Wales sing this song 130 years later I wonder how far are we from a song that is entirely generated by AI and becomes as loved as a song created by a human, and is still sung/played by people decades later? It feels weird to even think about it. If AI does get as good as humans at creating art (I think it might), what happens then? Will human generated art be still as respected/valuable? Will humans…

Corporations produce things (productive), while UBI rewards unproductive behavior (theoretically)

What a stunningly myopic conclusion.

I hope one day you are able to acknowledge all the people in this world that live for purpose instead of for making Lumberg’s stock go up half a point.