A bilateral Social Security Agreement between Ireland and Canada came into force on 1 January 1992, (Statutory Instrument No. 317 of 1991). The main purpose of the Agreement is to protect the pension rights of people who have worked in Ireland and who have worked or resided in Canada. The pension payments covered in the act are, old age (contributory) pensions, retirement pensions, invalidity pensions, widows (contributory) pensions.
One of the provisions of this agreement is that certain payments payable by the authorities in one country, can be paid even if the person concerned lives in the other country. Without more information on the payment that this person is receiving in Canada, I cannot give a definite answer as to his entitlement to have it paid by the Canadian authorities if he moves to Ireland, but I can confirm that some disability payments can be made under this arrangement. In addition, if a person is not entitled to the payment of a benefit because he or she has not completed sufficient reckonable periods in Ireland alone, the bilateral agreement allows for the contributions from Canada to be combined with Irish contributions. The person's entitlement to benefit shall be determined on the basis of the totalised periods in accordance with the relevant statutory contribution conditions provided for under the legislation of Ireland.
Finally, if the person does not qualify under either of the above arrangements, if he returns to Ireland it would be open to him to apply for a non-contributory Disability Allowance, which is means tested and subject to the habitual residence condition (HRC). Each case is determined on its own merits, and I do not have sufficient information on the circumstances of the individual in question to give a view on whether he would qualify for Disability Allowance.
