Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 139: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs the number of Irish nationals who were found not to satisfy the habitual residence condition in the periods July to December 2004, July to December 2005, July to December 2006, July to December 2007, July to December 2008, and to date in 2009. [9217/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The requirement to be habitually resident in Ireland was introduced as a qualifying condition for certain social assistance schemes and child benefit with effect from 1 May 2004. It was introduced in the context of the Government's decision to open the Irish labour market to workers from the 10 new EU Member States, without the transitional limitations which were imposed at that time by most of the other Member States. The effect of the condition is that a person whose habitual residence is elsewhere would not normally be entitled to social welfare assistance or child benefit payments on arrival in Ireland.

The information requested is set out in the following table. Figures for February 2009 are not yet available.