Mr. Richard King:

As Ms McAvoy noted, we work most intensively with people who are in very high need as well as a broader group of people who contact us looking for information. We have great links with many of the emigrant groups abroad. There are people returning with families or who are about to have families. Someone might arrive back who is pregnant and accessing maternity benefit can be extremely difficult, or impossible. On the question of employability and having one person working, in some cases the spouse or partner might not be Irish. People are forming families in other countries. A separate issue that we are considering is the right of people to live and work here which is a secondary barrier. People might come back, say, a pregnant woman and her partner, who will not be able to work for six, eight or even 12 months, for example, and will also be stuck with the issue of accessing payments.

A more overarching point within that is that many of the people who left in 2010, many of whom went to Australia, is that many of them are now interested in moving to other countries. Their time in Australia is up for various reasons, whether tighter visa regimes or the end of their work, and they are now looking at going to Canada. Wh

There is a broader related point. It is interesting that many people who left in 2010, many of whom went to Australia, are interested in emigrating to other countries. Their time in Australia is up for various reasons, such as tighter visa regimes or their work has ended, and they are looking at going to Canada. That raises the question of why they are not looking to come home. There is a perfect storm of many barriers, any of which one might be able to get past, and probably will, but they amount to the perception of returning to Ireland being very difficult. Many will return to work, and they want to work, but they want to know there is a safety net. We have heard so many people say that one cannot get a payment for two years after returning. They wonder if it does not work out, what will happen to them, and that is a big disincentive. Even if we tell them that we think they will do it, it is amazing how this idea spreads. There are Facebook groups of more than 10,000 members where this disinformation spreads through large numbers of people. One thing we are trying to do here is what we see as our responsibility to raise this and bring it to the committee and the Department so that we can get past that. One key thing is making that information freely available through the Department. There could be a guide on how to achieve habitual residency conditions.