Economic success bringing emigrants home - Minister

Ireland’s continuing economic success and increasing employment opportunities are attracting thousands of Irish people home from abroad every year, a Government minister claimed today.

Social Affairs chief Seamus Brennan said more than 61,000 Irish emigrants returned from locations around the world between 2002 and 2004.

As he launched ‘Returning to Ireland’, a guide published by Emigrant Advice, Mr Brennan said many Irish emigrants held the wish to return to the land of their birth to work or retire.

“However, the Ireland of today is often a very different country to the one they left, maybe decades ago,” he said.

“Ireland is now an attractive employment location, offering new opportunities and the prospect of a good quality of life for both returning emigrants and for others from all corners of the globe.

“It is important that before our emigrants make up their minds if this aspiration to return to Ireland is the right option for them, and is to become a happy reality for themselves and their families, they need to be able to make informed decisions.

“To do this it is essential that they have available to them good quality up-to-date information covering a wide range of topics such as social welfare, health, pensions, taxation, education and of course accommodation.

“It is important that people realise there are costs as well as benefits involved in deciding to come back to Ireland.”

Mr Brennan said that he would like to see more and more emigrants returning.

“I am confident the opportunities to return will continue for many years to come,” he said.

“One has only to look to the estimate that Ireland will need up to 50,000 workers from outside the state each year for years to come to meet emerging employment needs.”

The minister said Emigrant Advice had identified and made a practical response to that need when they published their first ‘Returning to Ireland’ Guide in 1997 and he now welcomed the publication of this fifth edition.

“The guide is full of relevant information that I have no doubt will help smooth the pathway to a successful return to Ireland for our many returning emigrants and the others who decide to come to live here,” he added.

The guide includes information covering a wide range of topics such as social welfare, health, pensions, taxation, education and accommodation.

Emigrant Advice is a project of Crosscare, the Dublin Diocese Social Care Agency.