The so-called ‘Golden Visa’ scheme allows wealthy foreign individuals to invest in Ireland in return for a right to reside in the State.
There is rising unease though in the Department of Justice about a growing imbalance in applications with an ever-increasing number of Chinese people taking advantage of the scheme which has been in existence since 2012.
Last year all but 41 of 1,316 applications came from people in China.
Trinity College Dublin, the Peter McVerry Trust, iCare housing charity, Louth GAA and property developer Bartra are just some of the wide range of organisations and companies which have benefited from the investment-for-visas scheme.
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However, there’s a lack of public transparency over the Immigrant Investor Programme – or Golden Visa scheme; who the investors are, how much money is involved and which Irish companies benefit.
A review in the scheme by the Department of Justice has been ongoing for many years.
Through Freedom of Information requests, combing through Companies Office filings, submissions to the Charities Regulator, statutory filings under lobbying law and promotional declarations on company websites, Irish Times current affairs editor Arthur Beesley has been able to shed more light on the investment scheme and he explains to In the News why it’s crunch time for the decade-old programme.
Presenter: Bernice Harrison. Produced by Declan Conlon and Aideen Finnegan.
