Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 9 March 2023
303. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Justice the number of joint applications made to the Immigrant Investor Programme; the amount invested or endowed, programme by year, country of origin, by the number of individuals involved in the joint application, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12110/23]
Amharc ar fhreagra304. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Justice when the Immigrant Investor Programme will cease accepting any new applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12111/23]
Amharc ar fhreagra305. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Justice if he is aware of any registered charity having been requested to make payments to third parties as a finders fee in relation to the Immigrant Investor Programme; the number of such instances brought to his attention; if related applicants to the programme were successful; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12112/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 303, 304 and 305 together.
Each individual investor application to the Immigration Investor Program (IIP) is a standalone application and must be submitted in association with a particular project. A specific project may have numerous individual investor applications associated with it, depending on the amount of funding sought.
The statistics in relation to multiple applications associated with a single project are not maintained in the manner requested by the Deputy.
The closure of the Programme will not affect existing projects or individuals already approved under the programme. My Department will continue to monitor existing approved projects in relation to the delivery and for compliance with the terms of the Programme. Current applications on hand at the time of closure will continue to be considered.
My Department has no role in how investors are matched with specific projects or recommending any project. The matching of potential investors with projects are matters for the relevant project owners. Investments approved under the IIP are made directly to the projects concerned and not through the Department of Justice.
The Department is aware that there are a number of agents operating in the IIP field who assist matching investors to projects, however, this is a commercial transaction between two parties and any arrangements between them are a matter for those parties. Such agent fees are not covered under the IIP programme. As part of the assessment process, the IIP unit routinely seek confirmation from projects that agent fees are not included in their proposal.
The IIP Unit has published a FAQ on my Department's website, which will be updated with any further arising questions from the closure, and is available here: www.irishimmigration.ie/faqs-closure-of-the-immigrant-investor-programme-iip/
My Department does not currently publish the details of individual approved IIP investments. The tables below provides a breakdown of IIP applications received, approved and the value of investments since the inception of the programme to the end of September 2022.
|
Year |
Applications received |
Approved applications |
Value of Approved Investment |
|
2012 |
5 |
2 |
1,500,000 |
|
2013 |
18 |
16 |
12,200,000 |
|
2014 |
30 |
5 |
2,950,000 |
|
2015 |
75 |
70 |
38,300,000 |
|
2016 |
334 |
33 |
18,750,000 |
|
2017 |
324 |
369 |
250,700,000 |
|
2018 |
423 |
155 |
138,750,000 |
|
2019 |
443 |
237 |
209,300,000 |
|
2020 |
339 |
270 |
188,000,000 |
|
2021 |
258 |
264 |
185,700,000 |
|
2022 |
1316 |
306 |
205,900,000 |
|
TOTAL |
3565 |
1727 |
1,252,050,000 |
Approvals issued in any year may relate to applications which were received in previous years due to the time taken to process applications.
|
Investment Type |
Total Applications Approved |
Total Value of Investment |
|
Enterprise |
876 |
740,200,000 |
|
Investment Fund |
243 |
225,000,000 |
|
REIT |
6 |
12,000,000 |
|
Endowment |
546 |
220,900,000 |
|
Bond & Mixed Investment |
56 |
53,950,000 |
|
TOTAL |
1,727 |
1,252,050,000 |
|
Nationality |
Applications approved |
|
China |
1,614 |
|
USA |
33 |
|
Vietnam |
18 |
|
Rest of the World |
62 |
|
TOTAL |
1,727 |
