The habitual residence condition applies to all claimants for certain social welfare payments, regardless of nationality. Any person who makes a claim for jobseeker's allowance, child benefit, one parent family payment, disability allowance, State pension non-contributory, carer's allowance, widow's non-contributory, guardian's non-contributory payment, blind pension or supplementary welfare allowance must be habitually resident in the State. People who previously resided in the United Kingdom or Northern Ireland are not exempt from being subject to the habitual residence condition except in certain specific circumstances in which the EU Regulations apply. Nevertheless, a person who has been residing in Northern Ireland and moves residence to this State may find it easier to satisfy this residence condition than people coming from other countries, because of the freedom of movement within the Common Travel Area between Ireland and the United Kingdom, and the relative ease of transferring one's centre of interest across the Border.
The EU Regulations, which provide for the protection of the social security rights of migrant workers exercising their right to freedom of movement between EU countries, include provisions which can override national legislation. The Regulations provide that family benefits (including child benefit) are payable by the State in which the claimant is employed, or by the State which is paying certain benefits, including jobseeker's benefit, following a period of employment in that State. This applies even where the children are resident in another State. A person who is currently employed in the Republic of Ireland by an Irish employer is therefore entitled to child benefit even if that person and/or his/her children are residing in Northern Ireland. A person who was last employed in the Republic and, for example, is entitled to Irish jobseeker's benefit (which can be exported for up to 3 months) will be similarly entitled to child benefit for that 3 months period. Similar EU provisions apply to supplementary welfare allowance which may also be paid in certain circumstances to a person who was last employed in Ireland. These arrangements do not apply to other payments like jobseeker's allowance or disability allowance which remain subject to the habitual residence condition.
