Last week in the House, the Taoiseach said he did not want to see any man or woman working in the arts to be discriminated against. There is consternation in the arts industry this morning after the announcement yesterday that the lower paid, those earning under €20,000, have got nothing. They are the most vulnerable and the most in need of supports. There are three different layers for different turnovers and grant aid but there is nothing for those earning under €20,000. This has been going on for the past 12 months and it should have been sorted out long ago. I have raised this many times.

What the Taoiseach said last week must be lived up to. These are ordinary dancers, players, singers and artists, ordinary decent people. They need support because we will lose them. We will lose a wealth of talent and entertainment value to our people who need it so badly. Will the Taoiseach please look after this cohort of the lower paid? They are not big lobbyists. Senator Eugene Murphy is chairing a committee with them now with which I am involved. They need support.

Under the plan, there will be supports for the music sector and the arts sector more generally. There will be a pilot scheme in terms of a basic income for artists which the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, along with the Minister for Social Protection, Deputy Humphreys, is developing. That is a basic income guarantee pilot scheme. In addition to that, the music and entertainment business assistance scheme, MEBAS, has been introduced to support, say, the guitarist in a given situation or the wedding band or musicians who perhaps did not get the same levels of supports because they did not have premises and so on as various schemes had different conditions. The MEBAS is being introduced to deal with that situation. I will ask the Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Deputy Catherine Martin, to correspond with the Deputy on it.