THE GOVERNMENT has flown home 3,631 EU nationals who became destitute since Ireland opened its borders to European migrant workers in May 2004.
New figures show 548 destitute EU nationals were repatriated last year as unemployment among migrant workers remained at very high levels due to the recession.
Romanians accounted for more than half of the total number of returned migrants last year, with 302 individuals flown home under the EU repatriation scheme. Some 77 Poles and 62 Latvians were also repatriated via the scheme, which cost the exchequer €120,535 in flights and €5,907 in taxis.
The number of EU nationals flown home under the State’s “Return Flights for Destitute EU Nationals” scheme in 2004 was 149. Returns peaked at 757 in 2008 before falling to 548 in 2010.
Migrant workers have been hit harder than Irish workers in the recession, experiencing an annual rate of job loss of close to 20 per cent in 2009, compared to 7 per cent for natives. Some 44,167 migrants from EU states, which joined the union in 2004, signed on the live register last month.
Most of the EU migrants returned home under the State’s repatriation scheme were refused social welfare benefits and were deemed ineligible to access long-term homeless accommodation.
Crosscare, an NGO that provides support for migrants in Dublin, said yesterday it was experiencing an increase in the number of EU migrants accessing its homeless services.
“There has been a big increase in migrant homeless in Dublin. About 70 per cent of people accessing our homeless services are now migrants,” said Wayne Stanley, policy officer at Crosscare.
“When migrants lose their jobs they don’t always have the same support networks of family and friends that Irish people have to fall back on,” he said.
“There are migrants who come here to work but find they cannot find a job and have no entitlement to benefits. But there are others who are refused benefits even when they are eligible,” he said.
The Government introduced new rules designed to prevent “welfare tourism” within the EU called the habitual residency condition in 2004. These assess a person’s connection to the State to determine whether they are eligible to claim welfare benefits.
The rules are very complex but in general a non-EU national who works in Ireland for 12 months or more is entitled to an emergency benefit payment called a supplementary welfare allowance. If they have worked for a period of less than 12 months they are entitled to an emergency payment for a period of six months on condition they register as a jobseeker.
The latest statistics show 9,844 foreign nationals were refused benefits in 2009 on the basis of failing to satisfy the habitual residency condition.
When a person is refused emergency benefits payments it is the responsibility of the Health Service Executive to refer people to the Reception and Integration Agency, which manages the returns scheme for EU nationals.However, EU nationals can refuse to return to their country of origin.
The Homeless Agency’s 2010 rough sleeper count found that at least 17 of the 70 people sleeping on the streets were non-Irish.
REPATRIATIONS: KEY NUMBERS
Return flights for destitute EU nationals in 2010
Bulgaria 5
Cyprus 0
Czech Republic 27
Estonia 2
Hungary 6
Latvia 62
Lithuania 36
Malta 4
Poland 77
Romania 302
Slovakia 27
Slovenia 0
Total 548
* Countries have joined Eu since 2004