Ms Karen McHugh:

I am the CEO of Safe Home Ireland which was set up in 2000 to support older Irish emigrants who wanted to return to their native counties. Over the last couple of years, we have broadened our remit to provide advice and information to all returning Irish emigrants. Our base is in Mulranny, County Mayo, but we have outreach offices in Limerick and in Galway and I am based in Portlaoise. We cover the Twenty-six Counties and also some of the other counties when people want to come back to Northern Ireland. We try to have an all-Ireland approach, although our remit in terms of our funding is the Twenty-six Counties.

We have a lot of issues and concerns. I presented to the interdepartmental committee on diaspora affairs in November and outlined all the challenges and barriers we felt were pertinent and that came to our attention. We did not address the issue of farming as I would not be as confident to speak on that, although I came from a farm in Sligo.

Over the last couple of years, we have seen a drop in the numbers returning and we believe one crucial reason is the barriers and challenges. It is quite concerning because we have a service and a facility and we provide outreach. We visit anybody who returns, whether an elder person, a family or a younger person. We can work with that person when he or she comes back. I lived in London for many years and returned to Ireland. I went back again to London because I could not settle here as I found I had come back to a different country but I was drawn back again. It is quite challenging to get any kind of support or assistance. When I went to get my car taxed, I went to the post office and queued for about half an hour only to be told that people do not tax their car in the post office. In England, everything is done through the post office. I refer to basic, little things like that.

Many of the challenges and barriers are around issues such as driving, housing, social protection, employment, the standard of one's health care, family, Brexit and the undocumented in America. I have a paper, which I am happy to circulate to members. I will not go through it now but we presented it to the interdepartmental working group in November.

I have a paper which I do not propose to read, but I am happy to circulate it to the committee. It is a paper we presented to the Department in November.

We believe the barriers can be lifted. We have been able to negotiate some of the challenges for older Irish emigrants. For example, Safe Home Ireland has an arrangement in place with the local authorities and the housing associations which allows it to access housing for any person over 60 years in need of social housing. The agency also has arrangements in place with the Department of Social Protection and the banks. The arrangement with the Department of Social Protection is in connnection with PPNs because unless a person has been living in the country, he or she does not have one. We have been able to put in place provisions for people who are over 60 years. The arrangement has been in place since the year 2000; therefore, as stated by Mr. Staunton, it is possible to address all of the barriers and challenges and we have been able to do so for a particular cohort. When families and young people want to return, access to housing, PPNs, banking and so on present a huge challenge. For those who have a car, the process to bring it with them is not straightforward. The rules in this regard are discretionary such that what is applicable in one area versus another will differ significantly. As stated by Mr. Staunton, there must be good will towards and empathy with returning emigrants.

While everybody is agreed on the need to bring the 70,000 people concerned home, there is not much of a focus on what needs to be done to make this possible and happen. The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade does tremendous work abroad, but the practice of making it happen is not straightforward. Safe Home Ireland received more than 700 new inquiries last year from people who wanted to return to Ireland but were unable to do so because they were not in a position to buy a property and because accessing social or private rented accommodation was a challenge. Those who would like to come back are people who would be working and paying taxes, contributing to the economy, etc., or who would have worked here before they left. They now want to return to the land of their birth, to have children, to be near their families and, unfortunately, in relation to the cohort we represent - people over the age of 60 years - to die, which is sad because many only come back to be buried here when they die. We have to make this happen. If there is a will, there is a way. Safe Home Ireland, working with others, is happy to support and progress and also lobby for it. It is possible to do it.