Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 7 March 2017
351. Deputy Charlie McConalogue asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the action his Department is taking to assist returning emigrants address the obstacles they find, in particular the cost of insurance, when settling back into life here as a result of having been a number of years out of the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [11318/17]
View answerSignificant Government funding and support is given through the Emigrant Support Programme, administered by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, to support organisations working with citizens who wish to return to Ireland. Over the last decade over €4 million has been allocated to the Crosscare and Safehome organisations working with returning emigrants. Their 2016 funding saw an increase of €60,000 on the 2015 figure.
The Department’s website also has a dedicated area specifically to assist citizens abroad who may be considering returning home by ‘signposting’ to information that may be of assistance to them.
In addition through my role at the Department of the Taoiseach, and through the Inter-departmental Committee on the Irish Abroad, which was established in the Government’s 2015 Global Irish – Ireland’s Diaspora Policy document, I am working to facilitate the cross-Governmental effort to ensure coherence in government policy and address some of those barriers that are being highlighted as potentially disproportionately impacting on returning emigrants.
The next meeting of the Inter-departmental Committee will take place on 30 March, and potential barriers for returning citizens will be discussed. In respect of insurance, this is a matter for the Departments of Finance and Health, though it should be noted that practices and procedures in individual cases are a commercial, rather than a governmental, matter.
