Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)

When representing the Government in the UK for St. Patrick's Day, I had the opportunity to meet a large number of organisations dealing with Irish emigrants living there, including those who return home and those who intend to return home. All I can say is that fewer than 3% of the applications for carer's allowance are refused on the grounds of habitual residence. The Deputy referred to the number of refusals last year - it was 618 - but I was advised by the Department that a large percentage of those were people who did not have an Irish passport. Two hundred and six of the 618 making an application were international people.

There is an ongoing dialogue between the Department and emigrant organisations dealing with people in the UK. The guidelines are very specific. The main problem relates to this definition of centre of interest, and whether somebody is definitively coming back to Ireland.

To respond to the Deputy's point about people from the Belfast area, there are often queries about persons who may still be claiming entitlements, or have entitlements, under the system in the North. These matters generally can be addressed if the information is given very clearly, and if the centre of interest is defined. Most emigrants who return home really do not encounter much difficulty in respect of the habitual residence condition.

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