As Irish unemployment heads towards 10% of the workforce, the number of foreign workers returning home under a voluntary repatriation scheme is increasing.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) assisted 452 people to be reintegrated into their countries of origin last year, compared with 231 in 2007. In the first few weeks of 2009, the IOM has received 100 applications.

“The figures so far this year indicate that the trend is going to continue,” said Bobby Pringle, IOM’s information and outreach co-ordinator.

The IOM programme is open to non-EU asylum seekers and migrants who wish to return home but do not have the means or the necessary documentation to do so. It is funded by the Department of Justice and the European Union, and applicants can receive financial assistance of €600 each or up to €1,200 per family.

The IOM often spends this allocation on flights, but the funds are also used to help migrants reintegrate in their home country.

Two Fianna Fail TDs have called for a review of the number of work permits issued to workers from outside the EU. Ned O'Keeffe and Noel O’Flynn, both Cork TDs, said that Mary Coughlan, the enterprise minister, should tighten up the permit system.

“It’s an important issue,” said O’Keeffe. “I don’t believe we should be giving permits to foreign workers. We have to give priority to Irish workers and Irish jobs. The country can’t afford it.”

These suggestions were strongly criticised by the Immigrant Council of Ireland. Denise Charlton, its chief executive, said that “attacking migrant workers will not create a single job”.

Leo Varadkar, Fine Gael’s enterprise spokesman, caused controversy last year when he suggested that foreign, unemployed workers be given a lump sum payment of up to six months’ unemployment benefit if they agreed to return home. His proposal was based on a Spanish model. In Spain, unemployed foreign nationals have been offered €18,000 to go home on condition they do not come back for three years.

At the time, Varadkar said the payment would not be used to “force” immigrants to return home, but to give them an option to do so. His proposals were criticised by TDs and immigration groups.

People from 30 countries availed themselves of the IOM’s scheme last year, and more than half the successful applicants were Brazilians. Many people were also returned to Moldova, Nigeria, Israel and Georgia.

In total, the IOM has returned almost 2,000 people from 175 different countries to their home states. The Live Register figures for the end of last year showed that the number of non-Irish nationals had risen by 134% to 54,455.

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