Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 172: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs her plans to review the habitual residency clause having particular regard to the fact that as currently applied it deprives many Irish citizens of an entitlement; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9461/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The habitual residence condition was introduced in order to ensure that a person, who has had no attachment to the work force since arrival in Ireland and whose habitual residence is elsewhere, would not be entitled to payment under certain exchequer-funded schemes on arrival in Ireland. Irish nationals returning to live here on a permanent basis should experience no difficulty in demonstrating that they satisfy the requirements of the Habitual Residence Condition.

Decisions concerning habitual residence are subject to five factors which have been laid down by the European Court of Justice, and which are now incorporated into our domestic social welfare legislation. The five factors are:

(a) the length and continuity of residence in the State or in any other particular country;

(b) the length and purpose of any absence from the State;

(c) the nature and pattern of the person's employment;

(d) the person's main centre of interest, and

(e) the future intentions of the person concerned as they appear from all the circumstances.

There is currently no discrimination on grounds of nationality in social welfare legislation and to introduce such a provision would be contrary to the equality principles that Ireland has adopted in our own equality legislation, and that we are obliged to respect by virtue of other international conventions.

It is alleged that Irish persons who have returned to live permanently in Ireland have been deprived of entitlement on the grounds of the habitual residence condition. However, my Department has been unable to trace any such cases, and has offered to review any cases that are brought to its attention.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 174: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if, in order to cater for the situation arising from the economic downturn, she will ease qualifications for family income supplement payments; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9463/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The Family Income Supplement (FIS) provides income support for employees on low earnings with families. This preserves the incentive to remain in employment in circumstances where the employee might only be marginally better off than if he or she were claiming other social welfare payments.

Qualification for payment under this scheme requires that a person must be engaged in insurable employment for a minimum of 38 hours per fortnight. A couple may combine their hours of employment to meet the qualification criteria.

Improvements to FIS include the change of assessment from a gross income basis to net income, the increase to €20 per week in the minimum payment and, in recent years, the re-focusing of income thresholds to include additional gains for larger families.

If a low income worker does not work sufficient hours to claim FIS, there is a range of other payments which may be more appropriate. For instance, people working up to three days per week may instead apply for a jobseeker's payment, provided they are unemployed for the remainder of the week and continue to seek full-time work. Entitlement can be either insurance based (jobseeker's benefit) or means-based (jobseeker's allowance). Any changes to the qualifying criteria of any scheme can only be considered in a budgetary context.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 175: To ask the Minister for Social and Family Affairs if she proposes to ease or improve procedures for qualification for free schemes having particular regard to the requirements and hardship arising from the economic downturn; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [9464/09]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The household benefits package is generally available to people living in the State, aged 66 years or over who are in receipt of a social welfare type payment or who satisfy a means test. It is also available to people aged under 66 who are in receipt of certain disability social welfare payments or carer's allowance. The package which includes the electricity and gas allowance, telephone allowance and free television licence schemes, is payable throughout the year to over 358,000 pensioners, people with disabilities, and carer households costs for 2009 are estimated at over €385 million in 2009.

There are no plans to amend the qualifying criteria for the household benefits package. The Department will continue to review the operation of the scheme with a view to identifying the scope for further improvements as resources permit.