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Ciarán Cannon TD, Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development, today announced the appointment of Indecon to undertake a detailed economic report on barriers to returning Irish emigrants. The report will focus on identifying solutions to disproportionate or unnecessary administrative burdens that negatively affect people wishing to return to Ireland to live.
Speaking today Minister Cannon said:
This Government has committed to work to facilitate Irish people living abroad who wish to return to live in Ireland. We are working to ensure that moving or returning to Ireland is as easy as possible for them.
Difficulties reported by Irish people returning to Ireland to live have included getting access to insurance, credit and securing driving licences. Minister Cannon outlined:
As Minister of State for the Diaspora I chair the Inter-Departmental Committee on the Irish Abroad which works to facilitate a whole of government response to issues affecting Irish people abroad. In recent meetings the Committee has focused its work on addressing government procedures reported to be negatively affecting returning emigrants.
This economic report will complement the work of the Inter-Departmental Committee on the Irish Abroad, and in particular, the report will review and propose measures to address difficulties in areas that are not immediately within the remit of Departments to alleviate.
The report will inform Government policy and actions in relation to difficulties it finds. People are invited to write to the Irish Abroad Unit at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade if they have examples of specific administrative difficulties they may have experienced in moving home to Ireland to live that could be of relevance in the context of this report.

NOTE FOR EDITORS
The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade provides significant funding and support through the Irish Government Emigrant Support Programme to organisations working with citizens who wish to return to Ireland. Over the last decade over €4 million has been allocated to Irish based organisations working with returning emigrants. Funding of such organisations in 2016 saw an increase of €60,000 on the funding for the previous year.
People wishing to detail specific examples of administrative difficulties that they have personally experienced in moving back to Ireland should email the Irish Abroad Unit at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade at globalirish@dfa.ie.
Indecon (Ireland) was appointed to this project following a competitive tendering process undertaken by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.