Green Party conference: Catherine Martin signals expansion of artists' basic income scheme

The Green Party deputy leader and arts minister, Catherine Martin, has said that she wants to expand the Government's €105 million pilot scheme paying artists a basic income. Martin described the scheme, which guarantees artists enrolled on it an income of €325 a week, as “ground breaking” and said that the coming year would be “pivotal” for the Green Party.

She also commented on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Gaza, stating that she believes other EU countries are being “wrong and inconsistent” in their handling of the issue. Minister for Children Roderic O'Gorman also addressed the conference, launching a scathing attack on what he described as the “flip-flopping of other political parties on policy positions”.

O'Gorman claimed that parties “oppose today” laws they previously welcomed in Dublin – in reference to the Government's recently passed Hate Speech Bill. MEPs Ciaran Cuffe and Grace O'Sullivan, and candidate Senator Pauline O'Reilly, are also in attendance at the conference, which is being held in Dublin's RDS.