WHILE DATA ON how much money is repatriated abroad is difficult to calculate, it is believed that the money earned in Ireland and sent to foreign countries has fallen.

In a parliamentary question to the Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Robert Dowds TD for Dublin Mid West asked whether the amount of money being repatriated abroad had dropped in recent years.

Money sent abroad has fallen

In 2007, statistics showed total repatriations were 1. 9  billion. However, by 2010 this had dropped to €1.7 billion and last year there was just just over €1.6 billion.

Kenny said the data on repatriations comes from the Central Statistics Office’s Balance of Payments (BOP) quarterly statistical release.  He said:

Due to their nature, migrants’ remittances and income of temporary employees are a challenge to measure and as data sources become available, the estimation models are strengthened.

At present, migrants’ remittances are estimated using P35 income information available, with some geographic detail of migrants, from Revenue. Remittances are estimated as a percentage of income, with the percentage applied varying by geographic area.

Earnings of non-resident workers are based on data from BOP surveys – which are surveys of companies and embassies and from estimates of numbers of temporary workers in Ireland, using Irish and Northern Irish census of population data. All income of temporary workers are treated as repatriations.

He added that the statistics provided to the IMF are then passed on to the World Bank who produce estimates for repatriations in Ireland. He said they were estimates and should not be taken as exact “official figures”.

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