Social Welfare Payments
Dail Éireann — 2025-11-27
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Martin Kenny (SF), Sligo-Leitrim

The fact that they live in two different jurisdictions, although they are only a couple of miles apart, is what gives rise to this peculiarity. This is a carer's case. There are other similar cases where habitual residency comes into play which may affect people's pensions and things like that on both sides of the Border. These are small numbers. We are talking about dozens of people in total. It is something that should be looked at across the whole social welfare code to see if a number of small statutory instruments or amendments can be put in to deal with these circumstances and to sort them out for the people involved. As I say, they are very small numbers. We are talking about people who have, generally, paid into the State because they have been working on this side of the Border. As we know, many people live in the South and work in the North, or live in the North and work in the South. It happens all the time up and down across the Border region. Sometimes, people have two jobs - one in the North and one in the South. It depends on those circumstances. In all of those situations, all we need to do is put something into the regulation that takes care of the problem we have and deals with it efficiently and effectively. This can be done very speedily. I ask the Minister to look at it between now and Christmas and come up with something to resolve the situation before the new year. Go raibh maith agaibh.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2025-11-27/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:23+00:00
Sitting date: 2025-11-27