Returning emigrant’s 6-month wait for welfare

AN Irish citizen who left Ireland to find work and was told on her return that she was no longer eligible for welfare payments is still waiting to receive the financial support six months later.

Mother-of-one Orla O’Connor, 27, from Midleton in Co Cork, left to work in New York in 2002.

As she was 19 at the time of her departure and had not worked full-time in Ireland, the Department of Social Protection did not have a work record for her.

When she returned in 2008 she set up a restaurant which closed the following year, meaning that as an Irish citizen who was born in this country she was entitled to receive social welfare support.

However, despite repeated requests for this support, the Department of Social Protection told her that she was not eligible for the funds under the Habitual Residence legislation implemented in 2004 to cut down on “welfare tourism”.

After Orla’s situation was raised by the Irish Examiner in January, the department said it would reconsider the application.

However, six months after the issue was raised, the 27-year-old has yet to receive any support from the state, with correspondence to her on Friday revealing that Ms O’Connor’s latest application has been misplaced and she will have to fill out the habitual residency form again.

“That last one was in February. I called them to find out what was happening in April, and they said it might take another three weeks. That was two months ago,” she said.

The department has insisted the “vast majority” of applicants under the Habitual Residence legislation will receive support and that delays are due to demands on the welfare system.

However, official records obtained by this newspaper show that in the five years between the introduction of the legal clause and December 2009, 2,709 returning Irish citizens either withdrew from the HRC process or were refused the right to any state-provided income.