'Golden visas' funding delays affect counties’ GAA stadium plans
Kerry GAA chiefs are seeking to rebuild parts of Fitzgerald Stadium in Killarney. Pic: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
County boards may have to wait years to learn if they will receive “golden visas” funds for stadium projects.
The Department of Finance has informed the there are major delays in drawing down money from the International Immigration Programme (IIP), which was discontinued by would-be Taoiseach Simon Harris as interim Minister for Justice 13 months ago.
The scheme allowed foreign nationals to claim residency in Ireland for a certain period on the proviso of investment here. Endowment was one of the options where five or more applicants would contribute €400,000 as a philanthropic donation to a project which is of public benefit to the arts, sports, health, culture or education in Ireland”.
The likes of Kerry, Kildare and Louth are awaiting news of their applications. For their proposed stadium in Dundalk, Louth are known to be anticipating €14.8m from the initiative, while Kildare expect €4m to help towards the reconstruction of St Conleth’s Park in Newbridge. Kerry are seeking to rebuild parts of Fitzgerald Stadium.
The statement read: “The Department does not comment on any individual cases. The IIP closed to new project applications on 15 February 2023. The closing of the programme did not affect already approved projects under the IIP who continue to submit valid investor applications.
“The IIP Unit also continue to receive investor applications in relation to projects submitted prior to the closure which have been subsequently approved since then. Given the volume of applications on hand, it is expected to take a number of years to process the remaining applications to final decision.
“The Department has approximately 2,700 investor applications on hand. It was agreed that arrangements in relation to the orderly winding down of the Programme would be put in place.
“All IIP stakeholders have been notified of the arrangements in relation to the winding down of the programme and the expected timescale for the processing of applications.”
The cases being prioritised are approved projects which have requested additional funding who have introduced additional elements to the project outside of their approved business plan, project applications on hand pre-closure of the programme, projects submitted outside the timeframe allowed post closure of the Programme and projects that do not appear to be within the scope of the IIP programme.
In October 2022, former Louth GAA chairman Peter Fitzpatrick suggested the funds would be soon issued to the county board. “We’ll be getting €14.8m from 37 investors, the approval came through last Thursday, and there shouldn’t be any reason why we won’t have a stadium built in the next 18 months or so.”
The scheme had been under review for quite some time before it was shuttered in February 2023. One of the reasons was concerns about the significant number of investor applicants coming from China and carrying out due diligence on them had become “extremely difficult”.
Meanwhile, former Kilkenny manager Brian Cody has agreed to be part of the new hurling development committee. Headed by Antrim’s Terry Reilly, Cody will join the likes of Neil McManus, Darragh Egan, Willie Maher and Seán O’Gorman.
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