Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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95. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the steps he has taken to ensure that funds under the immigrant investor programme are fully drawn down and verified before visas are granted; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45718/19]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I take it that the Deputy's reference to visas refers to a permission to reside in Ireland rather than a permission to travel to Ireland. A visa would normally be placed in a person's passport by an Irish consular official outside the State to allow that person to travel to Ireland for a stated purpose. It may be necessary to issue a visa to a potential investor prior to the completion of the investment in order that the person travel to Ireland to complete the legal and other requirements of the investment and to register for permission to reside here.

However, as of 1 January 2019 my Department introduced new control measures to allow for the verification of the investment prior to the granting of a residence permission. A successful applicant is now invited to make their investment and on completion of this process and on the provision of evidence of the investment they will be granted a residence permission. An applicant is given 90 days in which to complete their investment. Failure to do so will result in the application being deemed withdrawn.

Prior to 2019 the applicant was required to provide this evidence when they were registering for their permission to reside. They had to provide a letter from their legal representative confirming the investment was made, a letter from the beneficiary stating that they had received the investment and documentary evidence based on the investment type e.g. a share certificate from the investment fund confirming the investment.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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96. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the steps he has taken to ensure the immigrant investor programme adheres to best practice in investor programmes in the OECD in terms of anti-money laundering, international sanction checks, political exposed persons and client verification; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45719/19]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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I can inform the Deputy that my Department introduced enhanced due diligence checks in 2018 on all applicants to the Immigrant Investor Programme. This involved the utilisation of best in class compliance databases including politically exposed person checks. Further control measures were introduced from 1 January 2019 . All applicants must now provide a third party due diligence report from a risk management company. Additionally, all personal documentation must be apostilled or dually legalised in the country of origin before it will be accepted.

In 2019 a data sharing agreement was signed with the Revenue Commissioners which allows for the sharing of certain applicant information with the Revenue Commissioners for onward sharing with both the OECD and the applicant's country of origin. This measure was adopted to support the OECD’s Common Reporting Standard. The data will be shared once an applicant has made their investment in Ireland.

Darragh O'Brien (Dublin Fingal, Fianna Fail)
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97. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the steps he has taken to address the issue of organisations making third party payments to secure funding under the endowment option of the immigrant investor programme or other options; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [45720/19]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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The payment of fees by a charity or enterprise is a commercial matter to be decided upon by the responsible parties of the organisation and the policing of this is not a matter for this Department. The Charities Regulator is the competent authority with responsibility for the charities sector.

My Department has, however, made it clear through information updates and engagement with the charity sector that any funding received through the endowment option of the Immigrant Investor Programme is to be solely utilised for the purposes for which it was sought and that there can be no deductions of fees from the amount being donated. This goes against the entire purpose of this option which is that of a donation to a good cause. My Department will take the necessary steps to ensure this is the case, up to and including removing the residence permission from an applicant found to have engaged in such practice.