Vol. 469 No. 1
475 Mr. D. Ahern asked the Minister for Justice the ten persons who have received certificates of naturalisation based on investments made in this State in each of the years from 1995 to 1996; the purpose of the investment made; the amount of investment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [16243/96]
In the period of 1 January 1995 to date, 38 persons have been naturalised on foot of their investments in the State. In the case of ten of these persons, their applications had been approved in early 1994 by my predecessor before the then Government decided that all investment based naturalisation applications should be assessed by an inter-departmental advisory group operating within terms of reference. I authorised the release of their certificates of naturalisation when my Department was satisfied that the persons in question had made their investments, purchasd residences and complied with the requirements then in force.
In relation to the remaining 28 cases, 17 in 1995 and 11 to date in 1996, their applications for naturalisation were assessed in accordance with the terms of reference of the scheme by the advisory group and following recommendations by the advisory group to me, the investors in question were naturalised.
The terms of reference of the scheme stipulate that, inter alia, each applicant must invest a minimum of £1 million for the purpose of either saving existing jobs or for creating new jobs. These requirements, together with the other requirements of the scheme, were met in all of these 28 cases.
