Ivana Bacik (Independent)

I welcome the Minister to the House and welcome this programme. It is great that Members on both sides of the House welcome this initiative which we all recognise as a good idea. As Senator Bradford said, it will be good for job creation and is an example of Ministers thinking outside the box and thinking laterally about how a Department where job creation proposals are not usually forthcoming can take an initiative that will, hopefully, have a beneficial impact.

It is important to recognise the immensely positive contribution that inward migration has already had in Ireland and to celebrate that positive impact. I have previously put on the record of this House my family experience, as my grandfather came to Ireland in 1946 as a refugee from communism in Czechoslovakia, having previously been imprisoned by the Nazis. He had been in the Czech resistance and the communists were also very against those fighters. He set up Waterford Glass after the war in Ireland, thereby bringing about a great deal of jobs, investment and trade in Ireland. It is a good example of the sort of contribution that migrants have made to this country.

Around the South Circular Road in Dublin where I live there are thriving local businesses, many run by some of the new communities in our very multicultural area. It is important to note that the Minister has sent out very positive signals about immigration and I commend him on those wonderful citizenship ceremonies he initiated. All of us found those photographs in the newspapers depicting families and children very proud of their new Irish citizenship last weekend extremely uplifting; it made us all feel better about this country in a difficult economic time.

With regard to immigration policy, the visa waiver programme is very important and I hope there will be a beneficial impact from people visiting London this summer for the Olympics and the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens. Cultural tourism in Ireland is also important, as we can bring people here on short-term visas for cultural and literary heritage reasons rather than pure tourism. Senator Mooney noted how Belfast has used anniversaries effectively, such as the sailing of the Titanic. We must encourage people to come here to celebrate heritage as well as other reasons.

I was struck by a comment from Senator Quinn yesterday, which is relevant to this debate. He spoke of the US model in which members of the diaspora are invited to invest in small start-up companies, and it struck me that as part of the immigrant investor programme we should make available opportunities to Irish-Americans and people resident in the US who may be interested in this sort of investment. We could provide a list of Irish start-ups which could benefit particularly from inward investment. In other words we could try to link technology companies such as those producing computer games - young firms that need investment - to members of the diaspora who would be interested in investing under this programme.

I am glad this programme will be launched very shortly, in mid March, and it will be operational soon thereafter. It is a twin track approach to ensure we facilitate residency both for those making inward investment and those we described as start-up entrepreneurs, or people with an entrepreneurial imagination. The threshold is lower for them at €75,000. The current business permission scheme for migrant investors has been seen as inadequate. Is that because the set criteria are too onerous, with the requirement that people create at least two full-time jobs for EEA nationals and a minimum €300,000 to invest? Have we learned from that, and is that the reason the different criteria have been set out for this twin track new scheme of immigrant investors and start-up entrepreneurs? My supposition is that the start-up entrepreneur scheme would prove the more popular.

Could we see some move made in that programme to allow persons living here already to apply but whose residency status may not be sufficiently secure for them to feel they can really grow a business? I am thinking about the many businesses I mentioned around my area, and many of the people running them may not have very secure residency status. Will they be eligible to apply in mid March as start-up entrepreneurs or is it designed purely to attract people who are not already resident in Ireland? It might be useful for people to be able to convert student visas or short-stay visas in order to take advantage of the programme and thereby grow the business in Ireland.

The Minister has helpfully set out the residency requirement and will allow family reunification, which is extremely welcome. For my grandfather coming here in 1946, it was an important consideration that family reunification would be permitted. Could it be more flexible and not relate just to spouse, partner or partner and children? Perhaps it could also apply to grandparents. All of us have had representations from people in a position where they need a grandparent to free them up by providing child or home care. People can then continue to run a business or start an entrepreneurial scheme.

The Minister has been, correctly, reticent in predicting the numbers of people who will take up the programme. Has he any indications from any trade missions abroad? He spoke about already having queries into the Department. Is there any sign of where we will see particular interest and in what areas that interest will be? I welcome the scheme and thank the Minister for coming here to introduce it.