Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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12. To ask the Minister for Social Protection her views on immigrants returning home and being precluded from receiving social protection payments (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [8883/16]

Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour)
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Social welfare payments can be broadly divided into two main categories – contributory social insurance payments, which are based on the social insurance contributions paid by the claimant and non-contributory social assistance payments, which are subject to a means test.

The social welfare supports available to returned emigrants will therefore depend on the person’s particular circumstances, including whether the person has previously paid social insurance contributions in Ireland, the length of time spent working in Ireland before emigrating, the length of time spent abroad and whether the person worked in the EU or elsewhere.

For instance, a person who returns to Ireland after having spent a period working in another EU Member State may qualify for certain social insurance benefits from Ireland or from that other Member State, depending on the circumstances. Where a returned emigrant does not qualify for a social insurance payment, he or she may apply for a social assistance payment, such as jobseeker’s allowance.

In order to qualify for social welfare payments in Ireland an applicant must satisfy the eligibility criteria applicable to the scheme concerned. In all cases, decisions on the eligibility of persons are made following consideration of all the circumstances of the person concerned. In addition to having to satisfy a means test and other eligibility criteria directly relevant to the specific payment being claimed, applicants for most social assistance payments must also be determined as being habitually resident in the State in order to qualify.

The Department of Social Protection’s published guidelines on the application of the habitual residence condition specifically address the issue of returning emigrants. Returning emigrants who have previously been habitually resident in the State and who moved to live and work in another country and then resume their long-term residence in the State may be determined as habitually resident in the State immediately on their return to the State.

Arrangements are in place with Safe-Home Ltd, a registered charity, to assist with any difficulty experienced by a minority of returning emigrants in demonstrating their intention to live in the State permanently for the purposes of satisfying the habitual residence condition.

The current Intreo decision process is designed to speed up decisions. Persons applying for jobseeker’s allowance or one-parent family payment would normally be given an early appointment to discuss their application. Once the requested information is provided to support the application at the subsequent meeting with an official of the Department, there is usually minimal delay in processing the application to decision. The latest performance statistics available to the Department indicate that, on average, applications for jobseeker’s allowance take two weeks to process, while applications for one-parent family payment are processed within five weeks - reflecting the increased conditionality involved in qualifying for that payment.

It is open to anyone who is dissatisfied with a decision on the application of the habitual residence condition in relation to entitlement to a social welfare payment to appeal that decision to the Social Welfare Appeals Office.

If the Deputy has information on a returned emigrant who is experiencing difficulty in accessing a social welfare payment, I will have the matter examined if he brings details of the case to my attention.