The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) has requested the country’s government assurance that its applications under the now-closed Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP) will be approved.
FAI expressed its concerns in a letter addressed to the Department of Justice over the status of existing applications to the Immigrant Investor Program.
IIP was equal to the Golden visa program, allowing wealthy foreigners to acquire residency by meeting specific conditions and contributing financially to this country. However, the scheme has been abolished in February this year, as confirmed by the Minister of Justice, Simon Harris.
Emphasising that it has been under review for quite a period, following reports of its involvement in several unlawful affairs such as money laundering and corruption, the Minister stressed that strong evidence was provided to him, leading him to put an end to this scheme.
Minister Harris estimated that the program was of its time.
Taking all of this into account and informed by both internal and external reviews, I have recommended that it is now time to close this program to new applications.
Through a letter addressed to the Department of Justice, the FAI stressed that the program was used to great effect in order to support the sports sector in Ireland, thus attracting investors to pump money into sports and training facilities.
I am aware that there are a number of procedural issues that have arisen for some of those final applications – and I wanted to see how we can help those very deserving projects get across the line.
The Football Association of Ireland, through a letter, stressed that taking into account strategic commitment to facility development, it hopes that those existing submissions can be given the same due to process and consideration that was given so positively by the team before the announcement of the closure of this scheme.
According to a spokesperson from the Department of Justice, applications made through the program at the time of its closure continue to remain under consideration.
Nearly 500 applications for this program were recorded at the time of the programme’s closure, while projects approved under this scheme before February were not affected, according to a report from the Irish Independent.
The same notes that the FAI, in a report unfolding strategies for the next 15 years, stressed that it would need €863m in order to upgrade infrastructure and facilities around the country.
