Vol. 533 No. 5
133 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the completion date of the review, announced by him on 27 April 1998, into arrangements for the granting of business permission to individuals to reside here and subsequent naturalisation applications which were to be carried out by his Department in consultation with other Departments and relevant State agencies; and if he will make the report of the review available to the Oireachtas. [9416/01]
On 20 April 1998, the Government abolished the investment based naturalisation scheme which had commenced in 1989. In doing so, it also decided that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform should initiate a review of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, to see how it might facilitate investment and, if in the course of that review, information emerged which would warrant additional legislative measures, he should consider this.
To assist in conducting the review, I established a review group, comprising representatives of my Department, which chaired the group, the Departments of Finance, Enterprise, Trade and Employment and Foreign Affairs, Enterprise Ireland and IDA Ireland, together with two outside experts.
The group completed its review in May 2000 and it is currently being examined in detail by officials in my Department with a view to its submission to Government in due course. As I have indicated in the House previously, it is my intention that the report will be published when this process has been completed. In the interim, the situation is as I indicated on 20 April 1998. The scheme stands abolished and I have no plans to re-introduce it.
