My husband is English. Came to Ireland on a contract (English employer, so no Irish PRSI) in 2001. Met me ... etc etc. When his contract ended he became unemployed for a period of 2 years (IT industry went pear-shaped). During that time he visited (once) a 'dole' office to see if he was entitled to anything. The very-nice-and-polite girl behind the counter told him that, as he had no stamps paid here, she couldn't offer him any assistance. We could understand that this might be the case, and took her word and did nothing further about it (not realising that his period of unemployment would last so long, of course). He had NO INCOME whatsoever during the period of unemployment, and no assistance of any kind. We managed on my income. Now, a couple of years on, it occurred to me that surely he was entitled to something! I mean, aren't foreigners coming here all the time (imigrants etc) and they must be getting some sort of assistance, otherwise they couldn't survive. So I sent a letter to the Appeals Section of the Social Welfare Dept. They responded and said they can only address an appeal when a person's application for assistance has been turned down "in writing". We simply took the word of the girl in the 'dole' office and didn't get anything in writing. Does anybody think we have any chance of recouping anything at this stage, and, if so, how and where? Many thanks.