Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Deputy Whitmore for raising this matter today. It is important to note that as Minister of State with responsibility for migration, I do not comment on individual immigrant investor programme applications. In general terms, I can inform Deputy Whitmore that my Department does not receive or hold funds at any stage in the IIP process, nor does it have any role in the administration of an approved project or investment fund. This is a private matter between a potential investor, or investors, and a potential project concerned.

Approval of an application under the IIP is not an endorsement of a particular project. What it means is that the investor has been approved and the investment meets the objectives of the IIP. The applicant in the IIP process is the investor and not the project owner. The State has no responsibility for the performance of an investment under the programme. This is a matter for the project owner to ensure delivery of an approved project within the timeframe set out in its business plan.

The immigrant investor programme was first introduced by the Irish Government in 2012, when the struggling Irish economy needed investment, to create business and employment opportunities in the State. The programme fulfilled its purpose, and changed circumstances means that such investment routes are no longer a good fit for Ireland, or the needs of a thriving economy and society.

In recent years, I am aware that concerns have been generally expressed about the immigrant investment programme by the EU Commission, the Council of Europe and the OECD in a number of studies on border security, money laundering, tax evasion and circumvention of EU law, and that such programmes gave rise to issues of a broader public policy concern.

While I am satisfied that the IIP was operated to the highest professional standards, the combination of these factors made it timely to close off the programme. The Government agreed to close the IIP to further applications from 15 February 2023. Only the project proposals currently on hand and, by default, the individual investor applications associated with them will be processed to completion. Appropriate arrangements have been put in place for the orderly winding down of the programme. Further information on this process is included in a detailed frequently asked questions document, which is available on the Department's immigration service website.

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