Sinead Moran emigrated to Australia, then came home to Ireland this year – only to meet a wall of bureaucracy. Here she describes how some civil servants advised her to turn back again.

I AM WRITING this to highlight the deep frustration felt by returning Irish exiles, and to warn and advise those who will return. I do not wish to refer to myself or others like me as Irish emigrants, as to emigrate is to leave one’s own country to seek permanent residence in another country. To be driven out from one’s own country means myself and others are exiles.

I have met with too many young Irish abroad, disenfranchised, disillusioned, fearful and sad at finding themselves so far from home, family and all that is familiar. Each candidate on the campaign trail in February this year called to houses and spoke in the media about the mass exodus of this country’s young people. Having been forced to leave with my partner due to the dire economic climate in this country in 2008, I and others campaigned while in Perth, Australia for our right to vote this year. We had media coverage in Australia both in print and radio, and at home.

On the first sitting of the Dáil this year members spoke of the need to stop this exodus, encourage our young people to come home and provide opportunities for them in this country. Obviously most political parties, Independents and the media were caught up in the political spin and intellectual fashions of the time. Post-election, I see very little change to encourage or welcome home those forced to leave. When was the last time this exodus received front-page coverage?

Since our return, we have been advised by employees within the social welfare department to go back to Australia. We have been frustrated at every level:  from seeking advice from the Department of Social Protection, seeking information from Fás, trying to sign up for courses, applying for the student grant, availing of the free fees initiative, even car insurance.

I have returned home to study Political Science and Geography as a mature student. After accepting a course at third level, the normal procedure is to apply for a student grant at your local county council who then ‘means test’ you. After this you sign a FRS1 form sent to you from the college you will be attending.

Except I’m not a normal case, and nor are others like me. Having been outside the state for more than two years, I am officially in limbo. I am now classified as a foreign student wanting to study in my home country. An Irish citizen with an Irish passport (who unfortunately having had to seek work aboard for a number of years due to the reckless profligacy of the last government); on my return home find I am being questioned constantly on my “residency”.

‘Demoralising and frustrating’

Firstly by the county council and the student grant scheme with questions about where you are resident. Secondly the Department of Social Protection who will question your “habitual residence”. Thirdly the Department of Education who will question whether you are “ordinarily resident” here.

The question asked on the student grant form is: Have you been resident for three out of the previous five years? If the answer is no, you may still apply but will undoubtedly be refused. If you check the definition of resident on county council websites, the words used will be “resident” or “legally resident”. Yet on the Department of Education’s website, in clause 4.1.1 (you have to look hard to find it), the requirement is that you were “ordinarily resident” for 3 of the previous 5 years. This of course is very different from “resident”.

The Department of Social Protection, meanwhile, chooses to use the phrase “habitual residence”. Returning Irish emigrants (the term used by the Department of Social Protection) are, under EU ruling, exempt from the habitual residence rule. Yet you still have to go through the demoralising and frustrating process of filling out the forms that apply to foreign migrants in this country seeking social benefits. How many Irish nationals are not aware of their rights, and have been denied benefits because they have been outside the country for a few years? Or questioned so much, they feel they have no option but to seek work in another country again? It seems this government is silently pushing us out.

There’s another twist. Under Revenue rules, if you have paid tax for three consecutive tax years in this country you are “ordinarily resident” and you remain “ordinarily resident” for the next three continuous tax years, even if you are no longer living in the state. To avail of the free fees initiative for college you must declare that you have been “ordinarily resident” for three out of the previous five years. However the Department of Education is now claiming that you need to have been “physically” resident to be “ordinarily resident”… which again is a different definition.

So who do you go to for advice? The only person who will help you is you – and, if you’re very lucky like me, a good citizens’ information office with highly skilled and considerate staff (who by the way are volunteers!) Research the meaning that is used. Don’t allow these departments to brush you aside or treat you differently because you were temporarily outside the state.

It would appear that semantics is the order of the day within the various Government departments. Whether this affects you for good or for bad is purely on the whim of the department that you are dealing with.