Mr. Richard King:

The Deputy asked a good number of questions that are relevant to our work. I might refer certain of them to my colleagues.

Like Deputy Clarke, Deputy Brady spoke about the FBR. The impact is mainly on planning and the delays to which that can lead. It links to the visa and pre-clearance issues, as it all gets bundled up into the uncertain period of time before people have the citizenship they feel they need to return to the country. This is an important distinction because it is not necessarily a requirement. Someone does not have to have an Irish passport for his or her child to return to Ireland. If people are coming back from a country like Australia, it is fine because there is no visa required and it will not cause an issue. All of this builds into a picture. We have seen in practice that there are real barriers and perceptual barriers, and all of these issues get jumbled up and dispersed around Facebook groups, sites and discussions. For example, we heard it being said over and over for years that, due to the HRC, people could not get anything until they had been home for two years. I believe this myth or misinformation has been put to bed to some extent, but such beliefs can have an impact.

The delays are mainly found in planning the return. When people have families and are trying to arrange schools or when they are returning for their jobs, they need to know they can have a flight on this or that date because everything else will move on from there. We have encountered a few cases of delays in pre-clearance and people's de facto partners having to wait behind for a couple of months. It does not sound like the biggest deal in the world, but those people have to maintain two households - renting two apartments, for example - without having all of the supports they need to get their stuff over, take their flights etc. Planned returns are important because they make people more comfortable and leave them feeling like they can return home, which feeds into Deputy Stanton's point. The social and emotional adjustment is a large part of it.

Deputy Stanton was right in that people tend to come home at key times, for example, before their kids start school or when their kids are going to college. Their returns are bookended by big life events where people need stability. The other side of that is where people do not have an option other than to return in the middle of those periods. That can cause a large problem.

It is sometimes difficult to discuss some of the barriers because many of them are wrapped up in issues that everyone experiences, for example, housing. It is difficult to get somewhere to rent. The fix for some of these issues is the fix for everyone, so these issues do not just affect returning emigrants, but they add an extra layer of complication and concern. All of these issues go into the pot of what people add up to make the right decision for them and their families.

Deputy Clarke made a key point about taking care of matters in advance. During Covid, we have seen the movement of many statutory bodies to online application processes. There is no reason many of these steps could not be taken prior to returning. Why not take care of the steps that are easy to take – PPS numbers, visas etc. – in advance? It is a statement that people are planning on returning and that they want to get these matters sorted. This is more difficult to do when it comes to, for example, housing supports and social protection where there are means assessments. In such cases, we would err on the side of increasing awareness and understanding of the rules and how they might apply to returning emigrants. This should speed up processing.

In crisis returns and where people are coming back into homelessness, we would like to see guaranteed shelter of two weeks. Currently, people who return have to present in person for that to happen. This is problematic. They only comprise a small group, but theirs is a very high-need group. We focus on and put a great deal of effort into them and are in a good position to assist in their situations. However, the whole focus could be on identifying what could be done across statutory agencies and Departments in advance. It is more difficult to control what the private sector does, but there is no reason it cannot be done. The interdepartmental committee could play a role.

Some of these issues were identified in the Indecon report; some were fixed and some continue. Definitely, some revitalisation of that, with key action points, would be very useful.

On the point regarding professional certificates and things that convert back or not, it is very hard for us to pin those down. We work with people coming from every area and every region. Top countries of return are top countries of destination by default, such as America, Australia and England. Increasingly, people are going to and coming back from all parts of the world. Numbers from the Middle East have definitely increased in the past while, but we are also dealing with people coming back from south-east Asia, Latin America and Africa.

Countries that have similar systems to ours traditionally tend to be fine. Our colleagues in the US refer to driving licences as being a very difficult matter. A driving licence from the US cannot be exchanged whereas one from Australia can be. Certain things make it easier for people from certain destinations, just by default, while others are more difficult. It is also extremely difficult to get percentages of where people are coming from and so on.

We have had engagement regarding local authority areas and housing assessments. I am struggling to recall exactly when because it was a while back but my colleague, Mr. Foster, works in this area a lot. He sees, practically speaking, the disparity between treatment in local areas. If he will cover one or two areas, that would be great.