Department of Social Protection misapplies Habitual Residence Condition – again
We continue to be astounded at the misunderstandings that persist amongst front-line staff of the Department of Social and Family Affairs regarding the application of the “habitual residency condition”. The condition requires that applicants have a strong link to Ireland, based on five criteria:
(a) the length and continuity of residence in the State or in any other particular country;
(b) the length and purpose of any absence from the State;
(c) the nature and pattern of the person’s employment;
(d) the person’s main centre of interest;
(e) the future intentions of the person concerned as they appear from all the circumstances.
We were recently approached by an EU citizen who married an Irish citizen, in Ireland, in 2007, and has a child here. She separated from her husband due to domestic violence, and applied for single parent’s allowance when she made the transition from a women’s refuge to private rented accommodation. She was devastated and confused when her application was refused on the basis that she is not a “habitual resident” of the state.
It seems to us to be deeply unfair to both this mother and her child, and a waste of state resources, that she should have to enter the long process of submitting an application to the social welfare appeals office – appeals may take as long as a year to resolve. In 2009, half of the appeals to that office were successful. The standard of decision-making situation does not appear to have improved in the meantime and affects returned emigrants as well as immigrants (“Welfare officials refuse benefits to returning exiles” The Irish Times, 17 January 2011).
This case will form part of a study into a report on barriers to social protection for immigrants that is being conducted by Crosscare Ireland.
