Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Nash for raising this issue which, as he noted, affects a relatively small number of people but is very important. I am taking it on behalf of the Minister for Social Protection who is in the Seanad. The Department of Social Protection is committed to delivering the best possible service to its customers and continuously strives to achieve the highest standard of customer service possible. Carer's allowance is a means-tested income support payment to people providing full-time care to a person who needs that care because of age, physical or learning disability or illness, including mental illness.

At the end of October 2012, 51,550 customers were in receipt of carer's allowance, approximately 23,000 of whom are on half-rate carer's allowance along with another primary social welfare payment.

In 2011, the amount spent on carer's allowance was €507 million. Expenditure on carer's allowance over the past ten years to the end of 2011 has increased by almost 320% and the number of claimants in receipt of carer's allowance increased by almost 250% over the same period. The habitual residence condition applies to all social assistance payments including carer's allowance. The determination of a person's habitual residence is made in accordance with five factors which are set out in legislation. These are the length and continuity of residence in the State or in any other particular country; the length and purpose of any absence from the State; the nature and pattern of the person's employment; the person's main centre of interest; and the future intentions of the person concerned as they appear from all the circumstances.

These five factors have been derived from European Court of Justice case law. EU rules prevent discrimination on nationality grounds with regard to social security, so it is not possible to exempt a particular category of Irish citizens such as returning emigrants from the habitual residence condition either in general or for carer's allowance without extending the same treatment to all EU nationals. However, the guidelines regarding determination of habitual residence address the issue of returning emigrants very specifically. The guidelines state, "A person who had previously been habitually resident in the State and who moved to live and work in another country and then resumes his-her long-term residence in the State may be regarded as being habitually resident immediately on his-her return to the State". I hope this is of help to Deputy Nash.

In determining the main centre of interest in the case of returning emigrants, deciding officers take account of the purpose of return; the applicant's stated current and future intentions; verified arrangements which have been made with regard to returning on a long-term basis such as the transfer of financial accounts and any other assets; the termination of residence-based entitlements in the other country or assistance from Safe Home or a similar programme to enable Irish emigrants to return permanently; the length and continuity of the previous residence in the State; the record of employment or self employment in another State; and whether he or she has maintained links with the previous residence and can be regarded as resuming his or her previous residence rather than starting a new period of residence.

This is generally sufficient to enable the deciding officer to determine whether an applicant's present circumstances in Ireland indicate a temporary visit or habitual residence. Relatively few returning Irish emigrants are refused social welfare payments on grounds of habitual residence. In 2011, 13,888 applications for carer's allowance were processed. Of these, 223, or approximately 1.6%, were refused on the basis of habitual residency, of which 42 were Irish nationals.

It is acknowledged that the time taken to process carer's allowance claims generally at present is unacceptable. The Department of Social Protection has implemented measures to improve the processing time for carer's allowance applications including the allocation of additional temporary resources. Following the completion of a major modernisation project, an in-depth business process improvement project was completed for the carer's allowance scheme. This project focused on optimising output and customer service and the elimination of the current backlogs. The processing of claims has been divided into two streams. One concentrates on dealing with new claim intake and processes these without delay and the other focuses on the backlog, which is ring-fenced with a clear and targeted plan for its elimination. Since the implementation of the new process the Minister is happy to report that substantial inroads have been made to the current backlog and new applications are being processed on receipt.

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