Billy Lawless (Independent) | Oireachtas source

Once one sees the resemblance, it is hard to escape.

Over the last 20 years, Ireland went from being a country of emigration to one of immigration, "E" for emigration and "I" for coming back in, and then it went to emigration again. Now we are all delighted that, thanks to the improvements to our economy, Ireland is in a phase of return migration. This did not happen by accident. At the height of the economic crisis in 2009, the inaugural global Irish economic forum was established. This was the beginning of a transformation of Ireland's relationship with emigrants overseas. The referendum allowing emigrants to vote in the presidential election, which I read that the Taoiseach hopes to have in place next year, represents another milestone in this journey.

Today, I want to talk about the final part of this voyage as the fruits of a global diaspora policy start to take hold. For the first time since the crash, we are returning to net inward migration and 400 Irish citizens living abroad return every week to live in Ireland. According to the latest report published by the Expert Group on Future Skills Needs, there has been an increase in labour shortage across all sectors. Returning to the peak levels of the start of 2008 with a high concentration in the financial and professional services sector, we need our best and our brightest back in this country. My pre-budget submission, which I intend to publish later today, calls for substantively small changes to be made that could have big outcomes in both encouraging emigrants to return as well as providing a smooth re-integration of those who left Ireland. These are some of the issues which face returning citizens that could be resolved with limited additional budgetary allocation to the relevant Departments. We lack a website that could be a single point providing clear information for returning emigrants accessing services, where rather than refer them to the different agencies, there is a one stop shop. Primary schools' enrolment policies can have a discriminatory effect. Car insurance and the non-transferability of the no-claims bonus is a huge issue. There is the issue of converting foreign drivers licences to Irish drivers licences. Government, landlords and banks demand evidence of utility bills as proof of address. It is so difficult for returning emigrants to open bank accounts.

I understand that each of these issues creates its own hurdles but I urge the Minister to consider ways that both the information and real world assistance to deal with the hurdles of returning emigrants could be consolidated and more centralised. For example, the Citizens Information website is a wonderful tool for existing citizens understanding and interacting with our State services. A returning citizens website would be a good start. I recognise that there are actuarial issues relating to car insurance and perhaps safety issues for drivers licences but making returning emigrants jump through hoops is the lazy option. There has to be scope for better and easier accessibility to State, education and banking services for those returning home.

A major issue I hope to push forward during this session of the Seanad relates to third level education. In March 2014 the then Minister for Education and Skills announced that the children of Irish emigrants who have spent five years in primary or post-primary school in Ireland qualify for EU level fees at Irish universities and third level institutions for undergraduate courses from the 2014-2015 academic year. While welcome, this does not serve people who may have emigrated with their children either at the start of the recession or before and now want to return. Their children could qualify for the merit programme for scholarship to US colleges but because they are Irish citizens they cannot avail of any scholarships in the United States. If they return to Ireland they must pay almost full fees to attend an Irish university. That is not right.

We need to do better for our returning emigrants and I look forward to hearing the Minister of State's response.