Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I ask the Senator in her capacity as Leader of the House to ascertain for us from the Minister for Justice when moneys from the immigrant investor programme will be paid and when the Department of Justice will process this. I know the immigrant investor programme was closed very abruptly with one day's notice back in February 2023 when the now Taoiseach and then-acting Minister for Justice, Deputy Harris, abruptly closed the programme.

The Department of Justice flagged concerns in respect of it but notwithstanding that, there is a huge number of successful applications in the system and there are now moneys owed from those applications to many worthy beneficiaries across the country. Many of those are awaiting that and cannot proceed in the areas of philanthropy, art, culture and sport. A major one in my own constituency that impacts not just me but indeed the Minister for Justice herself, who is from Meath, is Páirc Tailteann in Navan which had already received €2.8 million from the programme but is awaiting many more millions from the processing of applications as part of the scheme, as are many others. What was a 12-month process has now turned into a two-year process.

I note that the new president of the GAA, Jarlath Burns, who has been a very forward thinking president, attended the sports committee this year and called on the Government to reintroduce the scheme. He said there are so many sporting capital infrastructure programmes across the country, not just in the GAA but in many sports, which could benefit from this scheme. If the Government could do one thing to help sport, he said it would be the reintroduction of that scheme and that its closure was wrong. If the Leader's office could ascertain for us when moneys will be paid, we would very much appreciate it for Páirc Tailteann and many other projects around the country.