'Christy'

Source: Charades

‘Christy’

The Irish government is to increase Screen Ireland’s funding by €2m in 2026, as well as turning the Basic Income for the Arts pilot scheme into a long-term offering.

This brings total funding levels for the national agency for film, TV and animation to €42.96m – a 5.1% increase from 2025. 



A long-term Basic Income for the Arts scheme has also been established. The initial three-year pilot was made available to 2,000 artists and creative arts workers, including a number of filmmakers, and gave creatives access to a basic weekly income of €325. The parameters are yet to be confirmed of what the rate will be going forward.  

The permanent version will offer support to a similar volume of artists but with the potential for an expansion to 2,200 participants if additional funding becomes available. The pilot was administered by the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.

According to the Irish government’s website, “The Basic Income for the Arts pilot is for practicing artists and arts workers whose work is intrinsically creative and applicants must be able to demonstrate that they work in an art form and have a creative practice in that art form.”

To date, this has included film, visual arts, theatre, literature, music, dance, opera, circus and architecture. Film producers are understood to not have benefitted from the pilot scheme. 

A recent report stated Irish society received a return of €1.39 for every €1 invested in the scheme.

These announcements came as part of the budget unveiled by the government yesterday (October 7), which also includes an uplift in VFX tax relief, at a 40% rate, compared to the standard Section 481 32%.

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