Irish in Britain would not be affected by benefits curbs

Britain's foreign secretary Philip Hammond has privately assured the Government that the hundreds of thousands of Irish living in Britain would not be affected by any new conditions that may be introduced by the UK to restrict EU migrants' access to its welfare system.

The foreign secretary discussed benefits restrictions with Minister for Foreign Affairs Charles Flanagan on two occasions in the past year - in December and in June - and provided explicit assurances on the subject, according to an Irish government document.

The subject was also discussed at a meeting between David Cameron and Taoiseach Enda Kenny in June - with Mr Cameron providing an informal assurance that Irish nationals would not be affected if the UK won the right to prevent migrants from accessing benefits.

Restricting benefits to migrants from the EU for the first four years after they arrive was one of the four demands made by Mr Cameron this week, as he set out the terms on which he wanted to renegotiate the UK’s relationship with the EU ahead of a referendum on the UK’s continuing membership of the union.

Mr Cameron has never made public that exceptions could apply for some countries.

There are 331,000 Irish nationals resident in the UK - the third biggest group of overseas passport holders who live in the country.

A proportion of those already claim benefits: the British department for work and pensions (DWP) says that 14,070 Irish nationals claim working age benefits, such as jobseeker’s allowance.

A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs has said: “We have raised the issue of how changes to UK welfare to restrict EU migrants could affect Irish nationals with our British counterparts and they are fully aware of our concerns.”

“Now that prime minister Cameron has clarified his proposals, we look forward to the negotiation process, including in relation to the proposals around migration and welfare reform.”

Different treatment

The DWP said that Irish nationals were traditionally treated differently: “The arrangements within the Common Travel Area mean that those living in the Irish Republic are deemed to be habitually resident in the UK.”

It is unclear if providing an exception for Irish nationals would fall foul of EU law.

Anand Menon, professor of European politics and foreign affairs at King's College London, and director of UK in a Changing Europe, told The Guardian that "excluding Irish nationals from any in-work restrictions would be no more or less legal than excluding other EU nationals. The legal issues are the same.

“Although there is probably more flexibility to legislate around those out of work, the rights of those in work are absolute due to the fact that freedom of labour is enshrined in the treaties.

“So ultimately it would depend on the precise areas where the government plans to act.”

The latest available figures, for February 2015, have 14,070 Irish nationals claiming working age benefits, which places the Republic seventh behind Pakistan, Poland, Somalia, India, Bangladesh and Iran in the rankings of top-claimant nationalities.

HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) refused to say how many Irish nationals are on working and child tax credits.

Downing Street declined to provide a comment.

Guardian service