Dara Calleary (Mayo, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The legislation providing for the Habitual Residence Condition is contained in Section 246 of the Social Welfare Consolidation Action 2005 (as amended). Habitual residence is a condition that must be satisfied in order to qualify for certain social welfare payments and applies to everyone, irrespective of nationality.

Under the relevant legislative provisions, a person must be regarded as habitually resident in the State in order to receive the following payments:

• Blind Pension
• Carer’s Allowance
• Child Benefit*
• Disability Allowance
• Domiciliary Care Allowance*
• Guardian’s Payment (Non-Contributory)*
• Jobseeker's Allowance
• One-Parent Family Payment*
• State Pension (Non-Contributory)
• Supplementary Welfare Allowance other than once off exceptional needs/urgent needs payments**
• Widow(er)’s or Surviving Civil Partner’s Non Contributory Pension.

Payments marked * are regarded as Family Benefits under EU Regulations on the Coordination of Social Security Systems (Regulation 883/2004). Where these regulations apply, usually in the situations where a person is employed or self-employed here, they are exempt from satisfying the Habitual Residence Condition.

Supplementary Welfare Allowance (**) is regarded as a social advantage for the purposes of Article 7 of EU Regulation 492/2011 (Free Movement of Workers). Under these regulations those who retain workers status are exempt from satisfying the Habitual Residence Condition when claiming this payment.

All other payments made by the Department do not have to satisfy the habitual residence condition. However, it should be noted that scheme specific qualification criteria applies in respect of all social protection payments including for example criteria relating to State residency requirements, payment duration requirements and for some secondary payments, an underlying entitlement to primary payments.

Legislation also precludes certain categories of people from accessing social assistance payments. These include EU citizens and their families who have been resident here for less than 3 months, where they have not been employed or self-employed during that period, and those whose right of residence is based on the fact that they have come to Ireland seeking work. It should be noted that such exclusions do not apply to exceptional needs/emergency payments.

I trust that this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.