Action needed to help returned emigrants

IN response to Minister O’Cuiv’s letter (August 2), what should be happening (as he describes) is not the reality of what is happening.

Every week, we deal with returned Irish emigrants that fall foul – not of the Habitual Residence Condition (HRC) – but of the misapplication of the HRC. The HRC is about establishing whether an applicant has an adequate connection to Ireland in order to be entitled to support from the state.

In our experience social welfare and community welfare officers tell returned emigrants they do not have an adequate connection with the country because they have not lived here for the last two years. This is a misapplication of the legislation and the current guidance on applying the HRC. All aspects of a person’s situation need to be considered not just “when they last lived in Ireland”. We dealt with a number of people this year who became homeless due to the misapplication of the HRC.