I am advised by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service of my Department that the purpose of the immigrant investor programme is to incentivise investment in Ireland by high-net-worth non-EEA nationals. As part of the investment, the non-national receives a specific immigration permission. There is no contractual relationship between my Department and individual developers or agents, such as the company referred to by the Deputy. In that context, a requirement to demand a tax clearance certificate or other form of certificate from such companies does not arise. It is the investor who is entering into a relationship with the company in question and he or she would be prudent to do due diligence before committing a sum of €1 million to a project.
All projects being proposed for consideration as applicable projects are, however, required to submit a detailed business plan with all relevant supporting documentation and where the agent is a developer or project proposer then all statutory requirements and regulations must be supported with appropriate documents.