If you are living in Ireland
and are from one of the following countries:
Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Denmark, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, …
allegedly covered by EU regulations, anyone may still believe that:
- You and your country fellows are entitled to the same benefits and services from the government as nationals of Ireland and the U.K.
- You cannot be excluded from these benefits on grounds of nationality, for reasons of residence, or for any other discriminatory reason.
That’s not the case since 1st May 2004.
The Ministry for Family and Social Affairs - with the aquiescence of the European Commission - made so-called fundamental principles like equality of treatment and freedom of movement and the notion of a single market and citizenship look a big lie.
14 months ago, new convenient pseudo-rules were introduced to prevent "foreigners" claiming some social security services, by allowing designated Deciding Officers to reject their applications on grounds of "residence" in a widely arbitrary way.
Since May 1st, 2004, the Habitual Residence Condition has been used by the Irish and UK governments to deny people access to social security.
We, the undersigned, call for the abolition of the
Habitual Residence Condition.
The Condition is contrary to the European Union's principle of ‘equality of treatment’ ie. in theory the Condition applies equally to nationals and migrant Europeans, but in practice, the rule is designed to discriminate mainly against migrants...
Likewise, it is contrary to the principle of 'freedom of movement' as workers lose out as a result of moving.
www.welfare.ie/publications/sw108.html