THE GOVERNMENT paid out €15.5 million in jobseeker’s benefit claims last year to people who moved from the Republic to other EU states to look for a new job.
Poland was by far the most popular destination for people transferring their welfare claims, suggesting many Poles living in Ireland are choosing to move back home when they lose their jobs.
Some 4,135 people transferred their jobseeker’s benefit payments to Poland in 2009, which cost the exchequer €10.9 million. This trend has continued during 2010 with 849 transfers to Poland at a cost of €2.1 million in the three months to the end of March 2010.
Under EU rules a person who is getting jobseeker’s benefit in Ireland can transfer their claim to another member state for up to 13 weeks in order to look for work in that country. To qualify a person must be in receipt of jobseeker’s benefit for at least four weeks before they move to another state.
To qualify for jobseeker’s benefit in the Republic claimants must have made PRSI contributions during a period of work.
jobseeker’s benefit is worth €196 per week for people over 25 years, compared to unemployment benefits currently worth €178 per week in Poland.
Slovakia is the second most popular destination for people to transfer their jobseeker’s benefit to with 406 cases in 2009, which cost the exchequer €1 million.
The Czech Republic is the third most popular destination with 166 cases, which cost the exchequer about €440,000 in 2009.
Five EU countries (Britain, Denmark, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands) do not ask the Irish exchequer to reimburse the benefits paid out because they have a reciprocal agreement in place.
Comparatively few people have transferred their jobseeker’s payments to the Republic after living in another EU state. In 2009 just 310 people transferred their welfare claims when returning to the Republic, down from 415 in 2008.
The figures were released by Minister for Social Protection Éamon Ó Cuív yesterday following his first meeting with the Oireachtas committee on social and family affairs. At the meeting the committee authorised a subvention to cover an estimated €2.5 billion deficit in the State’s social insurance fund, which is used to pay out welfare benefits.
Mr Ó Cuív also said his department was committed to tackling welfare fraud. He said his department received 2,729 anonymous reports about suspected welfare fraud in the first three months of 2010.