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A NEW ONLINE information portal will help Irish people who are living abroad and planning to move home.
The ‘Returning to Ireland‘ section of the Citizens Information website was designed to provide advice to returning emigrants in areas of education, schooling, retirement, and starting work.
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it was a key component of its commitment under Ireland’s Diaspora Policy, to facilitate those who have left and want to return home.
Speaking of the resources online, Junior Minister Ciarán Cannon said the online portal will be an “invaluable resource”.
“I am keenly aware that returning to Ireland from abroad can be a challenging experience,” he said.
“This is why the Government is committed to making this process as smooth as possible by ensuring that, as a first step, people thinking about making the move have access to comprehensive, detailed and accurate information.
“The Citizens Information Board has already consolidated its position as the go-to resource for information about public services in Ireland.
“This new content, specially catered for returning emigrants, is exceptionally detailed and will no doubt be an invaluable resource for Irish emigrants moving back home.”
In 2018, the Citizens Information website recorded more than 13 million users and 47 million page views, according to chief executive Angela Black.
“We hope that this information on returning to Ireland, in addition to the existing 1,200 webpages already available, helps our Irish citizens abroad navigate their way back home,” she said.
“Returning to Ireland’ provides practical information on Irish public services aimed specifically at people returning to live in Ireland.
“Returning citizens need easy access to information which can help during their transition to Ireland on matters such as how the Irish taxation system works, how to get an Irish driving licence or get a passport for a child born abroad.”
The new information section of the Citizens Information website can be found here.
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I hope they have at the top of the list “zero properties for sale or rent” think hard before returning.
@Mick McGuinness: don’t forget to tell potential returnees that road tax in Portugal on a 2lit diesel is €43 and inIreland €701 last time I looked, just one example of how expensive the country is to live in now.
@Gus Sheridan: Don’t forget to tell them our salaries are the fifth highest in Europe and that is almost 3 times the avaerage salary in Portugal
@John Horan: Okay, let’s try Sweden. Motor tax on a VW Golf is about €60, and insurance is about €330. That should satisfy the salary comparison. The long dark winters are crap over here, but at least most of my salary is mine.
@John Horan: because Ireland is one if the most expensive places to live in Europe, heavily taxed, sky high insurance costs, housing market gone nuts. I love the country but too expensive there.
@Donncha: we could play the game all day finding which country is cheapest for x and most expensive for y. Ireland and Sweden have almost identical post tax salaries and almost identical overall cost of living. Swings and roundabouts but commentators here would have you believe that Ireland is horrible but the immigration numbers don’t lie.
@John Horan: Highest rate of income tax in Portugal is 48% with an additional 11% social security contribution, so that has to be factored in.
@Donncha: “Most of my salary is mine”…Sweden is one of the highest taxed countries in the world! Majority of your salary goes to the government surely!
@Shaner Mac: Nothing close to the majority of my salary goes to the government, just under 26% does. For context, that is not a low rate, as I earn just a bit above the national average, and whether we’re counting the pre-tax amount, or after-tax, I still easily get to use most of it as I please.
@Shaner Mac: but look what you get if you have kids in Sweden,if you single don’t.ive in Sweden.they just want family’s
@Gus Sheridan: Eh Gus, that’s nonsense. I drive a 2 litre diesel and my road tax is €180?
Was 5 months waiting on a drivers licence transfer… Doing a great job lads!
@Cupid Stunt: but at least you weren’t driving in Sydney, Newyork or California in which casy your Irish licence would be lapsed and you start again at the theory test. Welcome home lads!
God it would be great to have some actual Irish immigration for a change.
@paul jones: you do know the figure for immigration into Ireland each year contains Irish returning in that. Usually 40-50 something percent range. Irish people return year on year they may go again also. So not really a change
More spin from this out of touch government.
@Johnny Conway: that’s exactly what l have done ,couldn’t live in Ireland anymore to expensive for everything and don’t start me on the health service there , living in England now 15 months here ,had all outstanding health problems sorted in 6 months .low tax on car etc etc loved living back home but afford it
They can’t look after those who are here….sounds like a Venus fly trap…
One look at the miserable comments in this comments section will put anyone off returning.
For those thinking of coming back. Don’t listen to them. Ireland is still a great country, albeit with a few problems like all countries.
I came back last year and couldn’t be happier. Unless they could do something about the rain!
@James McLoughlin: The rain keeps this country from having 20 million people live here LOL of course they would have to build in Leitrim but maybe multinationals would consider building in the smaller counties if they knew their workers could get housing for half the cost!
@James McLoughlin: I came back bought a place, lasted 5 years, probably existed is the better word and moved to Europe.Never regretted it. Don’t but property in Ireland at the moment , wait till prices plummet again.
@James McLoughlin: Depends on where you’re coming from, I moved from the UK 4 years ago (after 20 years) and it’s still hard to get my head around the system here, its a great place to raise kids and there’s waay less people, pace of life is slower, etc. The misery in the comments section for me is justified, the system I left (Tory Britain) is so much more socially inclusive and for the most part looks to provide for the people that live there, here it’s the opposite it seems, everybody is climbing over each other to get enough money to pay for taxes that don’t provide, well, anything really! I would say a fair breakdown is 49% amazing 51% total nightmare, my advice to those thinking about coming back would be to do a lot of research and preparation. Particularly in terms of housing, transport, health, childcare, all very bumpy roads here, but if you can navigate these then it’ll be ‘grand’
The Department of Agriculture plan a sister publication:
‘Returning to the Fleecing Shed’
Especially for sheep.
What’s an Expat ? Surely you mean returning Immigrant .. this is the sort of muck you see used by the Mail and Telegraph to describe English people living abroad .
@Airwave81: Exactly. We’ve always been emigrants until some people got notions about themselves. Also, people use the word as a perfect excuse not to integrate to whichever land they’ve graced their presence with.
@Airwave81: it’s a general term nowadays, your anti British skirts are showing by the way.
@Airwave81:
Relax – the Mail and Telegraph are not out to get you.
It’s in more common usage than that – generally describes anybody abroad who retains home country citizenship.
@Airwave81: nice comment .. thank you!
Returning home so they can get on the joe duffy show and complain about the cost of living And how no one wants to help us.it wasn’t like that in Australia joe.
@Seriously stunned: probably wasn’t like that in Australia anyway
Ireland is as good, or as bad, as its people make it. The sacrifices of previous generations have made it a great country. Hopefully, our best and brightest will stay, and those who have been forced to leave will return. People who contribute are a national asset.
@Raymond Westlake: it’s usually the best that emigrate and make lives for themselves , have families and don’t return.
Lack of opportunity for returnees and their children’s future and the astronomically high cost of living ensures you won’t be killed in the rush to get back unfortunately. Yes a stunning country scenicwise but that’s not enough.
If you still have a non-EU drivers licence the car insurers wont insure you and the Government has done nothing for years to remedy that.
Be crazy to move home. Place offered me nothing when I was there
@Ken Byrne: John F. Kennedy spoke his famous words, “ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.”
@Raymond Westlake: beat me to it!
@Ken Byrne: And where is the Utopia you are living now so we can marvel at its wonders?
@GerryCummins: well Gerry after going through 6 yrs of university I was working in a corner shop on min wage. So JFK can head off with himself. Compared to that I’m in utopia is right
Brexit is next resession for the next generation of twenty something’s to emirgrate are this story is another non runner
What a joke, if they are returning be assured its probably just for a holiday, but statistics show they are coming home
Well I’m returning to Ireland once again. I’ve left for London, left for Spain and now in Egypt. As lovely as all these places are, I am older and wiser. I think where do I want to settle? Apart from the extortionate prices, not all prices are extortionate, the piddling rain, the damp, the government, the health, not one of those other countries I lived in were really any different. Egypt was an eye opener and I’ve realised how lucky I am. I’m going back to my city and I will gorge on tayto for the rest of my life. We really have it alot better than other countries but you have to leave Ireland to realise it
Who’d volunteer to go back to jail after escaping? Makes no sense.
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