THE NUMBER of Irish citizens who have been refused the carer’s allowance because they are not considered residents of the State almost quadrupled between 2008 and 2009.
In 2008, just nine Irish people were refused the carer’s allowance on the basis that they did not satisfy the habitual residence condition (HRC), rising to 35 in 2009.
That figure is set to rise again this year, with 29 Irish people being refused the payment between January and June 2010. Even though some returned solely to look after elderly relatives, they were denied the payment as their centre of interest is abroad.
One man returned from Spain earlier this year to look after his elderly mother who has Alzheimer’s and requires around-the-clock care. Although he had lived in Ireland his whole life until five years ago, when he and his wife emigrated, he was refused the carer’s allowance on the basis that he did not meet the HRC. Six months later, he is still awaiting the outcome of his appeal and has been told he could be waiting another three months. In the meantime he, his wife and his mother are all living off her pension.
He says he is incredibly frustrated by the system where genuine cases are being made to suffer while they go through the appeals process.
“I feel like the Government policy at the moment is just to turn you down . . . you just get a blanket refusal. The attitude you get from people in the system is, look, everyone gets refused at the start to weed out welfare tourism. But I’m not here for welfare tourism.
“I’m Irish and I’m here to look after my mother. It would be costing the State an awful lot more if she was put into a home,” he said.
“As an Irish citizen at 78 years of age, she deserves a good quality of life and some recognition from the State.” He adds that the condition should be assessed on the fact that she is habitually resident.
Clare Duffy, social policy officer with the Irish Carers Association says the HRC, as applied to carers, is unfair as many may return home on a temporary basis to provide care to an elderly relative, before returning to the country in which they were living previously, but if they do not intend to settle here permanently they do not meet the condition.
The organisation wrote to Éamon Ó Cuív two weeks ago to request that those returning to look after elderly relatives be given special exemption from the HRC. “The Carers Association urge the Minister for Social Protection to waive the habitual residence condition in respect of persons returning home from abroad to provide full-time care for a family member,” Ms Duffy says.
Senator David Norris says the situation faced by carers is unjustified, especially given that the provision of care is of real service to the State. “The application of the habitual residence condition causes great and unnecessary difficulty,” Mr Norris says.
“It also causes financial hardship for people who return from abroad. One should bear in mind that those affected have not chosen caring as a career, it is a task they have been forced to do by family circumstances.”
A spokeswoman for the Department of Social Protection said the purpose of the habitual residence condition is to safeguard the social welfare system from abuse by restricting access for people who are not economically active and who have little or no established connection with Ireland.
“Exempting Irish nationals from satisfying the habitual residence condition would be contrary to the equality principles that Ireland has adopted in equality legislation. It would also be contrary to EU law to exempt Irish nationals from the HRC and not exempt other EU nationals on the same basis.”
In total, 422 people of various nationalities have been refused the carer’s allowance payment since the HRC was introduced in 2004, at least 84 of whom were Irish citizens.