EU mobility and portability of social protections: Polish migrants accessing and transferring social protections to and from Ireland

The coordination of social welfare transfers within the European Union (EU) has been described as one of the most complex and progressive [social security systems] in the world (Avato et al., 2010). EU citizens who reside and work in other member states are entitled to receive the same treatment as nationals when accessing and transferring their social protections in other EU member states. However, alongside the expanded scope of social security protections for EU migrants is the balance of power between supranational EU policies and national welfare systems. Fears about ‘welfare tourism’ led some member states, including Ireland, to take steps to adjust their national welfare implementation systems by engaging in selective restrictions for migrants in accessing their social protections in the new place of residence (Moriarty 2016). Rather than seeing a reduction over time in the application of selective restriction policies, Vintila and Lafleur (2020) argue that there has been a strengthening of selective conditions imposed on migrants related to residency in the process of accessing social security in a different EU member state. This paper provides an analysis of the portability of social protections to and from Ireland between 2004 to 2020. Data acquired from the Department of Social Protection through a Freedom of Information request are analysed alongside existing datasets to provide a more comprehensive picture of inward and outward flows of social protection payments in Ireland. Given their political salience and significance in terms of government expenditure, Child Benefit and Jobseeker’s Benefit are chosen as case studies. It was found that levels of social welfare portability in Ireland are relatively low and policies strongly favour the transfer of social insurance payments over means-tested payments. The paper also draws from a qualitative study of 31 Polish nationals in the Irish labour (2022-23) and their experiences of engaging in national and transnational social protections in the event of challenges across the lifecourse including unemployment, illness and child benefit. The analysis shows how Polish nationals engage in a complex range of social protections drawing from national and transnational healthcare schemes and from public and private funding sources. It also identifies a number of factors which can complicate the process of accessing social security in a different EU member state, namely regulatory and institutional complexity, national deciding officers’ administrative discretion but also a resistance by some Polish migrants to apply for location-based entitlements, that were considered ‘national’ and discretionary.